Shore Leave
by DanaCardinal
Summary: When Sterling and her friend Emily are spending a slow Saturday afternoon together, neither of them were expecting to find twenty clone troopers in the park near Sterling's home. Afraid of what would happen, Sterling and Emily decide to shelter the clones. This decision leads them on an adventure of a lifetime that neither girl would give up for the world.
1. Chapter 1

**Dana: This was inspired by a conversation with my best friend that turned into a plot bunny and wouldn't go away. I don't own Star Wars: The Clone Wars.**

Chapter 1

It wasn't everyday Sterling got to hang out with Emily, both girls had busy schedules that made it hard for them to spend time together. Fortunately, that day was one of few where neither girl had had anything to do. It was a nice day, sunny with a few clouds in the sky, chilly but not uncomfortably so, windy but it was more of a calm breeze than anything else. All that combined made it a nice day, it was also a very calm day, which bothered Sterling and by extent, bothered Emily. Both girls were used to there being a sense of movement and rushing in the air and weren't entirely used to the calm. But they were both able to put the feeling in the back of their minds, it was early afternoon on a Saturday after all.

"It's quiet today," Sterling said.

"It is. That okay with you?" Emily asked her friend

"I just find it odd you know, there is usually this rush in the air. People needed to go places and do things. But now it's just... quiet. I haven't had a day this quiet since I moved down south years ago. I don't like it," Sterling said.

"Why not?" Emily asked

"It feels... I don't know how to describe it except... weird you know. It just feels too quiet," Sterling said shrugging.

Sterling let out a huff of air and shoved her hands into her pockets.

"Ignore me, I think all this stress is turning my brain to mush," Sterling sighed.

"I know what you mean by that. I think my brain is still mush after writing all those essays last week," Emily said.

"Essays and stress will do that to one's brain," Sterling said "You want to head back to my place? We can have some hot chocolate."

"Sure. I'm getting a little cold," Emily said.

Sterling and Emily picked up the pace of their walk. Sterling tugs her orange hat lower to cover her exposed ear while Emily puffed warm air into her hands. Wordlessly, Sterling passes Emily a pair of orange mittens. As they walk, a large expanse of white that obviously isn't snow catches Emily's eye. She stops walking and looks at the white thing on the ground hidden by the reeds near the stormwater ponds near Sterling's house. Sterling notices her friend stop walking and goes to stand next to her friend. She frowns when she sees the white lumps.

"What are those?" Emily asked

"Well, it isn't snow. Plastic bags maybe?" Sterling said, not exactly believing her words, "Want to check it out?"

"What?" Emily asked

"Well, if those things are plastic bags, we should throw them out," Sterling said.

"Oh, right," Emily said

The two girls walked towards the white lumps; Sterling in the lead and Emily just behind her. Considering Sterling was in the lead, she was the first one to see what the lumps were. She stopped in her tracks, Emily bumping into her.

"Sterling?" Emily asked

Sterling didn't say anything, she just stared ahead, her brain trying to comprehend what she was seeing. Emily looked over the top of her friend's head and blinked, falling into the same state of lack of comprehension as Sterling. Emily was the first girl to find her voice again.

"Sterling, is that Captain Rex?" Emily asked in a slightly strangled voice

Sterling nodded mutely.

"And Fives, Echo, Hardcase, Jesse, Kix, Commander Cody, Waxer, Boil, Commander Wolffe, the rest of the bloody Wolfpack, three members of the Coruscant guard, Razor, Stak and Commander Ponds," Sterling said.

"Aren't Fives, Echo, Hardcase and Ponds supposed to be dead?" Emily asked

"Well, Echo didn't die. We find that out in the season that never happened because the show was cancelled but as for the other three, yep, they're supposed to be dead," Sterling said.

"Is this a hallucination?" Emily asked

"I don't know. I think the question should be; are they dead?" Sterling asked

Emily didn't answer and Sterling drew her shoulders up and muttered:

"Only one way to find out."

Sterling walks closer to the clone Captain and shook his shoulder. She shook him harder when he didn't move. The Captain jerked violently and Sterling jumped back only to end up falling over Echo who was right behind her. Sterling swore as she got to her feet, putting her hands up to show she was unarmed.

"I'm not gonna hurt you, I just want to help. Are you okay?" Sterling asked calmly

"Who are you?" Rex barked

"I'm name is Sterling. That's my friend Emily over there," Sterling said pointing at Emily, "Can you tell me your name?"

"Captain Rex of the 501st at your service."

"Okay Captain Rex, do you know where you are?" Sterling asked

"I'm afraid I'm at a loss ma'am," Rex said.

"Sterling. You're uh... in the suburbs near my house. Are you feeling okay? Any dizziness or nausea?" Sterling asked

"A bit of dizziness and a lot of confusion," Rex said.

"Understandable," Sterling said, "Can you stand?"

"Yeah," Rex said.

Sterling watches as Rex gets to his feet and then proceeds to the exact same procedure with the other clones. Once everyone was on their feet again, Sterling returns to Emily's side.

"Follow us, Emily and I will take you somewhere warm. Get you guys some food and water." Sterling said

The clones exchanged looks and Wolffe whispered to Rex:

"Are you sure we should follow them? It could be a trap."

"I don't think so. This place strikes me as a pretty civilian area. We should be safe." Rex said

"You guys coming?" Sterling asked

"Coming ma'am," Rex said.

"This way. And please call me Sterling."

Sterling and Emily took the lead of the small party of troopers and began walking towards her house. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw several clones looking at cars with confused expressions on their faces. " _They've never seen cars before. They're only used to speeders,_ " Sterling thought to herself. When they got to Sterling's house, she unlocked the door and ushered everyone inside.

"Sit anywhere you want. Take a chair. Take the couch. Take the chaise. Just don't sit on the table or the counters," Sterling said

Sterling and Emily watched the clones mingling in Sterling's living room and kitchen. Sterling turned to Emily and whispered:

"Clones. In my kitchen."

Emily gave a shaky laugh before turning to Sterling:

"So you see them too? We wouldn't be hallucinating at the same time."

"I see them too. And talked to Rex. This isn't a hallucination," Sterling said, "What do we do?"

"Where do we even start? There are like, twenty or thirty of them!" Emily said

"I don't have enough food for everyone up here. They'd eat everything in the pantry and fridge up here and in the basement in a day or so. But we can't just leave them either." Sterling said

"Should we... take them to the Canadian embassy? I mean... could they count as refugees?" Emily asked

Sterling laughed nervously.

"From where? The embassy would think we're crazy. For all they know, Coruscant or well, anywhere else in the Star Wars Universe doesn't exist anywhere outside movies." Sterling said

"Right. They'd think we were cosplayers pulling an elaborate prank... dammit. Even if we managed to split them between your place and my mom's place, the food would only last two or three days tops." Emily said

"Yeah, but we can't leave them on the street. One that would be cruel and two, what if the military finds them?" Sterling asked

Emily shuddered and whispered:

"A non-space faring society would suddenly be introduced to energy weapons... that's not good..."

"My thoughts exactly. And to make things more complicated, they don't have ID or money or health insurance or anything that we have so they can't get help either. Not to mention they have no way off this hunk of rock. That means, I'm gonna do what's right and help them," Sterling said with fierce determination in her voice. "You'll help right?"

Emily looked at Sterling, a small smile on her face.

"Well, I've got about three thousand dollars in the bank left over from paying my university tuition. That should cover a few meals if we buy them fast food." Emily said

"That should cover food for a bit. But what about clothes? And shoes? They can't keep walking around in their armour. They'd be spotted and recognized before we could say droids." Sterling said

"I don't know... my credit card has a one thousand dollar cap per month," Emily said

Suddenly Sterling was struck with an idea and it made her heart sink to the floor. She rubbed the back of her neck when she spoke next:

"Well... there is something we could do... it's not ideal." Nervousness slipping into Sterling's voice

"I suppose I could steal some of Rob's stuff, though I'm not sure it'll fit- what's not ideal?" Emily asked

"We could rob a clothing store. We'd only need to take one trooper with us, they're all the same size after all." Sterling said weekly

Emily stared at Sterling like she had eight heads.

"... You do realize my mom will literally murder me if she finds out we're even considering this, right?" Emily balked with a shocked expression on her face

"My mom would murder me too but do you have any other suggestions? These guys are broader across the shoulders your brother and taller than both him and my dad." Sterling said

"I can't believe they don't have any civilian outfits," Emily said before sighing, Sterling was right. "But you're right; I can't think of any other solutions."

Sterling rubbed her temples.

"I don't like the idea of committing a robbery either but what else can we do?" Sterling asked quietly

"Right... okay. Some stores have tags attached to clothes that are designed to spray ink all over them in the event of shoplifting. Do we have a solution for that?" Emily asked

Sterling pursed her lips.

"You got a point there. That is going to be a problem. Unless we avoid big chain stores where they have those ink things we should be able to avoid that problem. At least, hopefully, avoid that problem." Sterling said

"But smaller stores might be harder to steal from though... especially with how much stuff we're gonna need," Emily said.

"True. Unless we get a big enough distraction for us to rob a large store with enough time to take off those ink tags..." Sterling frowned

"They're designed to come off one at a time and we're going to have a car load of stuff. I think if there's gonna be a distraction, it would have to happen mid-transaction so most of the tags are dealt with already. Plus, there will be cameras..." Emily said wincing

"Those cameras are gonna be a problem. Transportation or ourselves and the goodwill also be difficult. The distraction would have to be big enough to disable the cameras..." Sterling trailed off as she looked at the troopers gathered in her kitchen. " Think the troopers would be able to help?"

"I hope they will. I can't drive and attempting to move that amount of clothing on the TTC would be suspicious as Hell," Emily said, " We're gonna need a van."

"You have a point about the TTC. I can drive. Sort of. I hope they'll help too." Sterling said

"Well, let's go ask..." Emily said

Sterling sensed her friend's nervousness, Sterling didn't like this either.

"Yeah. You wanna ask or should I?" Sterling asked

"I feel like I'm gonna hyperventilate if I say much more," Emily laughed nervously "If I knew this was gonna happen when I woke up this morning..."

"I'll ask them. I understand your train of thought and I agree," Sterling said before taking a deep breath. "Hey uh... guys... can I ask you something?"

When Sterling said that, all the clones stopped conversing with one another and milling around to stand at attention. Sterling noticed Hardcase shaking his right hand slightly and she suspected that her cat had bitten him.

"Oh God why me?" Sterling muttered to herself

"Ma'am? Are you alright?" Rex asked

"I'm fine Captain. And please, call me Sterling. Emily and I uh... need your help with something." Sterling said

"Of course, what do you need help with?" Jesse asked

Emily looked and Sterling and took a deep breath.

"It's about the matter of shelter and staying under that radar... our world doesn't have a very advanced space program. And we're, um... very concerned about what may happen if the various governments around us become aware of your presence here..." Emily trailed off as Sterling interrupted her

"Or worse, terrorist organizations. I don't wanna know what would happen if a group like ISIS or ISIL got their hands on you guys."

"I understand. I think we all understand." Rex said

Sterling took a breath and continued:

"Right. So in order to blend in, you need civilian clothes. Unfortunately, getting them is going to be a bit of an issue..." Sterling trailed off unsure how to finish her sentence

"We can't ask you to do anything; you're civilians after all..." Kix said before Emily interrupted him by blurting out

"We're gonna need to rob a store!"

"What she said," Sterling said with a nod." And you're not asking us to do anything. We're choosing to help you because it's what's right. It's what we do you know. Help people who need help."

"Yeah," Emily said.

"And we are going to help you. And that means sure there is enough food for all of you, that you have clothes and shoes, that you have somewhere safe to stay and that the government and various terrorist organizations don't get their hands on you." Sterling said fiercely

"And how do you propose we transport ourselves around. Those... speeders with wheels wouldn't be able to carry all of us." Jek said

Emily frowned at Jek's remark, he had a point. She did a quick headcount and said to Sterling

"I think we're gonna need an RV instead of a van. Or maybe a Greyhound bus."

"A Greyhound bus would be pushing it. An RV, on the other hand, would work. I could probably drive an RV but not a bus. Why would we need an RV?" Sterling asked

Emily looked at Sterling.

"How long do you give it before the neighbours wonder where all these people came from?" Emily asked

"Not long, maybe a couple of days or so. One of my neighbours probably noticed though and might be asking my mom about it," Sterling tugged at her bangs nervously "Why?"

"Then we're gonna need to be able to move everyone and ourselves long distances,"

"Point. Then that means we'll have to act quickly. I can hide the boys in the basement overnight. We'll grab whatever we need for them tomorrow."

"Here goes nothing," Emily said before muttering more to herself "Didn't really want to get a job anyway."

Sterling noticed Fives giving Emily and concerned look. Sterling slung an arm across Emily's shoulders.

"We'll be fine. You have me, I have you and we have the troopers." Sterling said

"Yeah. That's right." Emily said, "Will you have enough room in your basement for twenty clone troopers?"

"I think so if I move some stuff around in the back office room," Sterling said.

Sterling turned and went down a flight of stairs leading into the basement, Emily close behind her. Once the two girls were out of earshot, Kix muttered:

"I don't like this. They shouldn't be getting involved in this."

"Hey, I don't like it either Kix but what other choice do we have?" Echo asked

"We could make it on our own," Kix said.

"I don't know, this world doesn't seem particularly advanced and if Sterling and Emily are correct about the government of this world and possibly terrorist organizations being interested in us, I don't want to take that risk," Jesse argued.

"Sterling seemed pretty nervous when she mentioned those terrorist organizations. I kinda want to know more about what they did to make her so nervous." Fives said

"I'm with Kix on this one Rex. These two are barely adults and they're civilians. We can't ask them to get involved." Cody said

"I'm just surprised that they are so willing to help us out." Ponds said

All the clones fell silent at that. While the Jedi were kind, well most of them at least, they weren't perfect and could sometimes be a little self-absorbed without realizing it.

"Commander Ponds has a point. They are doing this of their own free will. They are going to help us whether we like it or not. We will need their help if we are to stay on this planet for whoever knows how long." Razor said

There was a short period of silence when Emily appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Hey, think you guys can come give Sterling a hand. She's being stubborn about doing all the heavy lifting by herself and I don't want her throwing her back out." Emily said

"Of course," Rex said.

The clones followed Emily into Sterling's basement. The clones followed Emily into a back room where Sterling was trying to lift a box filled with what looked like books onto a pile of boxes into a larger pile of boxes. Sterling was standing on her toes as she tried to put the box on top of the pile. She would probably fall over and knock over the pile of boxes and end up hurting herself. Cody was behind Sterling and helped put the box on top of the pile. Sterling shot him a grateful look and a soft smile.

"Thank you, Commander Cody." She said

"Not a problem Sterling. Perhaps you could direct where you want the boxes to go. You won't hurt yourself that way." Cody said

Sterling flushed a little but nodded. She looked around the room, trying to figure out where she could have the mess of boxes and other stuff away so there would be enough room for a group of twenty clones in her basement.

"Some of the boxes can go in the room with the water heater, and everything else can go in the garage," Sterling said

The entire process to about fifteen minutes and once most of the room had been cleared out, Sterling exclaimed:

"Space!"

She flushed a deeper red, and apologized with a stutter:

"S-sorry. I-Ignore me. I often speak without thinking."

Emily, noticing the signs of Sterling getting anxious, promptly cleared her throat allowing the attention to be moved away from Sterling. The clones turned to look at Emily while Sterling shot her friend a thankful look.

"Is this enough space for all of you?" Emily asked

"Yes, we've had to sleep in smaller quarters before. This will be fine, thank you very much, ma'am." Jesse said

"Emily. Please, just call me Emily. There isn't a need for that much formality."

"Of course," Jesse said.

"Sterling, how many sleeping bags do you have?"

Sterling's head jerked up and she frowned.

"Not enough adult sized ones. But I do have enough blankets to cover everyone if I stretch them out." Sterling said

"What about pillows?" Emily asked

"Um... I don't think I have enough and my mom, brother and sister would get a little suspicious if their pillows disappeared off their beds." Sterling said, "Hang on."

Sterling jogged out of the room and back up the stairs. Emily blinked at her friend's hasty exit, she couldn't help but wonder what Sterling was planning. She didn't hear Razor whisper to the other troopers:

"Pillows and blankets. We've hit the jackpot."

Sterling came back down the stairs, arms full of what looked like decorative pillows and large stuffed animals. Emily blinked in confusion.

"Okay, I don't have enough pillows so I improvised," Sterling said.

Emily looked at her friend and shrugged, Sterling seemed to know what she was doing. A few minutes of arranging and muttered swear words, Sterling finished arranging the makeshift "pillows" into a formation that would allow the twenty clones to lie down comfortably with somewhere soft to put their heads. Sterling vanished up the stairs again, without a word. Emily leaned against the wall and waited for her friend to return, Sterling having taken charge of the enterprise. Eventually, Sterling came down the stairs, slowly and carefully; arms loaded full of blankets.

"I'm surprised you didn't trip." Emily said

"I've had practice," Sterling said, "I do the laundry most weekends"

"Of course," Emily said "Need a hand?"

"Sure," Sterling said "You grab one end of the blanket."

It took Sterling and Emily five minutes to get all the blankets stretched out. Once that was done, Sterling and Emily examined their handiwork, a large makeshift bed on the floor. Sterling grinned at her friend.

"Job well done Emily." Sterling said

"You think so?" Emily asked

"Yeah, it'll do for the night at least," Sterling said "You guys can sit down you know, no need to stay standing up."

A couple of clones sat down on the floor, some of them began taking off their armour and Sterling said:

"The pantry is that door right next to the washing machine and dryer. Take what ever you guys want that doesn't need to be cooked. Emily and I will be either on the floor above you or on the second floor of the house. If you need us, you guys can come find us, just be careful not to be seen."

"And don't be afraid to come find us if you need anything. We will help." Emily said

"Thank you. Both of you." Rex said

"It's no problem. Emily and I need to go upstairs now but we'll come down and check on you guys when the coast is clear, I think my sister just got home."

There were nods around the room from the clones and Emily and Sterling went upstairs into the living room. Both girls sat down on the couch, Sterling's cat climbing into Emily's lap.

"I have 20 clones in my basement." Sterling said

"Yep." Emily said

"We're planning on committing robberies and grand theft auto."

"Yep."

Sterling paused a minute and asked:

"How the heck did the clones end up here?"

"I don't know. Maybe the Force brought them here." Emily said

"That's as good a theory as any Emily. Can you imagine if we were Force sensitive? It might explain how come we were the ones to find the clones."

"Maybe."

"I highly doubt it though. We were probably in the right place at the right time."

"Probably."

Panic hadn't quite set in on either of the girls then. They were both focused on the issue at hand, what the heck were they supposed to do.

 **And that's all for now. Big thank you too my best friend; TheGirlWithFarTooManyIdeas who's conversation I was having with one night inspired this story and for her help with the dialogue. I hope everyone enjoyed. Read, like and review please. Later, Dana**


	2. Chapter 2

**Dana: I don't own Star Wars: The Clone Wars**

 **Chapter 2**

Sterling didn't sleep easily that night, it wasn't unusual that she had trouble sleeping but that night she was more restless than usual and kept waking up every hour. At about quarter to six, Sterling gave up on trying to sleep. As quietly as possible, Sterling slipped on a pair of fuzzy socks and her housecoat. If she couldn't sleep, she'd grab a glass of apple juice and wait for the others to wake up. That was when Sterling tensed violently, she had twenty clones in her basement that only she and Emily knew about. "Oh shit." Sterling thought

Sterling stopped dead when she saw the light on in the kitchen, wondering if someone broke in. She calmed down a little when she saw Emily. Her friend was pacing in circles around the kitchen. Sterling walked in and asked:

"How long have you been up?"

"Over an hour. I tend to wake up early when I'm stressed." Emily said

"I didn't get much sleep last night. I'm surprised I even slept at all. I don't sleep well when I'm stressed."

"Took me forever to fall asleep in the first place. Oh God, do you really think we can really do this?

"I don't know but I think we can. I just have a feeling we can do it."

Emily gave a shaky and nervous laugh.

"For how long though?"

Sterling pursed her lips and shook her head.

"I don't know. But I do know that we won't last long if we stay in the city."

"I'm gonna disappear on mom... she's gonna be so..." Emily trailed off

"Pissed? Scared? Worried?" Sterling filled in

"It's gonna go on our records, that never goes away... we'll never be able to get decent jobs... she's gonna be a mad/scared combo."

"I know... I know... I understand where you're coming from." Sterling said before taking a deep breath "You don't have to come with me... you know that right?"

"I can't let you go by yourself." Emily said, "No, I'm going if you're going."

"Are you sure? Because you're right, if we're caught, this isn't going away."

"If I go home now, I'm gonna regret it later. I mean, I'll regret it if we get caught, but I'm gonna regret doing nothing more. 'Cuz those are refugees depending on us."

"Yeah, they are. We can't leave them. When should we leave?"

"I think we should put it off as long as we can... and we need to find an RV."

"An RV should be easy enough to find. The real problem is where we're going to go. I have an idea where but... never mind, it's a stupid idea."

"So is robbing a store. What's the idea?"

"We go North."

"Where to the North specifically?"

"I... my parents had a couple of friends who had a cabin in the woods. It's in the middle of nowhere and no one aside myself know where it is. Those friends moved south years ago so we wouldn't have to worry about them finding us."

Emily looked at Sterling questioningly and asked:

"Between it and the RV, you think we can house all the clones? Because that's as good a plan as any. The only remote place I can think of – my dad's parent's farm – requires border hopping to the US."

"The cabin is pretty big. And if we get a big enough RV... we should be able to do it without having to jump the border."

"Well, the best of bad options will have to do." Emily hesitated before continuing "I think I'm going to tell mom I'm trying out residence. At least she won't think I'm in trouble that way."

"That sounds like a good plan. I hope you're okay with a long road trip because getting up there will take some time."

"I'll remember to grab my charger cables. And this is all assuming we'll be able to rob that store and get away with it. We need a game plan."

"The thing we really need to do is make sure that there are no witnesses and that the cameras don't see our faces."

"There are gonna be witnesses though. The trick is gonna be making sure we can't be identified. So, scarves covering faces and hoodies."

"Yeah, we'll also need to have one of the boys in the basement with us. For size, you know."

"Do you nominate anyone in particular or should we ask them?"

"I think it best if we ask."

"Yeah. Speaking of whom..." Emily trailed off, looking over Sterling's shoulder

Sterling turned around in her chair to see Rex standing at the top of the stairs. Sterling figured that he had been listening to the conversation.

"Good morning Captain. I hope you slept well."

Emily smiled shyly and tugged at her hair. She didn't say anything. Sterling blew her bangs out of her eyes and asked, well tried to ask at least:

"We uh... ahem... shit how do I do this?"

"Ma'am, I'm under the impression sheltering us will be a massive strain on you both," Rex said seriously

"Sterling. Please call me Sterling, I'm not in the military. And sheltering you and the others is no less a strain that being an autistic, anxiety-ridden woman on this hunk of rock. I'll be fine. I'm just awkward in social situations where I have to ask questions."

"Alright Sterling, Emily. I can't in good conscious expect you to damage your futures looking after me and my men."

"I understand but I can't in my conscious leave you and your men out in the street in a world where everything is radically different from what you know. And honestly, I wouldn't be too surprised if this planet doesn't wipe itself out in a nuclear war in the near future."

"I'm with her. The right thing to do is rarely the easy thing."

"Nothing worth doing is ever easy."

There was a short pause before Emily asked:

"Are you the only one awake? I'm sure we could throw a breakfast together with what we've got here."

Emily sounded far too cheerful in Sterling's opinion but she didn't comment on it.

"I have enough ingredients for pancakes, I can make those if everyone is awake," Sterling said with a slight shrug

"Fives and Cody are awake. The rest are coming around." Rex said

"Well, why don't you tell everyone who's up and awake that they can come upstairs. I'll get the pancake batter ready." Sterling said

Rex nodded and headed back downstairs. Emily glanced around the kitchen and said:

"We're gonna need a big bowl."

"I have one that's big enough and if we need it, we can use another bowl," Sterling said.

"Of course. Good idea."

"I'll grab everything. The recipe book is the yellow one on the shelf, can you grab it for me, please?

"Sure."

"Thank you. I'm gonna need a lot of milk and a lot of flour."

"Right... I'll get those."

"Thank you. The flour bag is in the pantry in the basement. I'll grab the eggs."

As soon as Sterling finished her sentence, several clones began to appear at the top of the stairs. Some were yawning and rubbing their eyes but a couple of them waved at the two girls.

"Morning boys," Sterling called.

"How is everyone?" Emily asked with a nervous smile

"I hope you guys slept well. I'm making breakfast. It should be ready in a bit." Sterling said

Several of the clones perked up at the mention of breakfast, Fives being one of them. Kix didn't say anything, he merely gave Sterling and Emily the analytical doctor look.

"Good morning to you too Doc." Sterling muttered as she stood on her toes to grab the baking powder, "I hate being short."

"I used to be one of the tallest kids in my grade school classes," Emily said wistfully. "You guys eat pancakes?"

"Have you guys ever had pancakes before?"

There was a general shaking of heads and a couple of confused looks at Sterling's question.

"Pancakes?" Ponds asked curiously

"Oh boy. Okay, you'll find out in a little bit. They're good. Especially when I put chocolate chips in them,"Sterling said as she opened the cupboard doors to see that the chocolate chips had been put out her reach. "And said chocolate chips are out of my reach as usual. Emily, I'm gonna climb onto the stove and try and grab them, think you can spot me?"

"Can I try?" Emily asked

She stretched upwards in an attempt to grab the bag but another arm reached past her and grabbed them. Echo passed the bag to Emily, who in turn passed it to Sterling.

"Thank you," Emily said.

"Thanks, Echo. Now, where did I put that measuring cup..." Sterling muttered to herself

"Over here," Emily said holding out the measuring cup.

"Do you need any help?" Jesse asked

"Yeah, I need someone to run down to the pantry and grab the bag of flour. It's a red and yellow bag. I also need someone to grab me the milk please."

"I got the milk."

Sterling noticed out of the corner of her eye, Jesse disappearing down the stairs into the basement.

"Thanks, Emily," Sterling said before she muttered, "I'm gonna need four eggs for this."

Jesse came up the stairs with a large bag of flour in his arms. He set it down on the counter.

"Is this it?" He asked

"Yeah. Oh, and the table needs to be cleared off so that there's space to eat." Emily said, "Eggs, right..."

"I got them," Sterling said holding up the carton. "Thanks for grabbing the flour, Jesse."

As Sterling mixed the batter, Echo, Fives Kix, Thire and Rex set about moving things off the table.

"Thanks, guys." Sterling said pulling out a frying pan "Gotta love non-stick pans."

"Oh yeah; much easier to clean..." Emily trailed off. "Hey Cody, Ponds, you guys mind putting plates and such out?"

"The plates are in the cupboard over the dishwasher," Sterling said. "Thanks again guys."

Cody nodded and got to work. His movements were professional even if he was in a mundane situation. Sterling looked around muttering:

"Where is the... oh right... it melted. Wooden spatula to the rescue."

"Melted?" Emily asked raising her eyebrows

"Somehow, my sister managed to melt one of out plastic spatulas. I don't know how she did it but I get the feeling I don't wanna know." Sterling said, "The first batch of pancakes is ready."

"She melted it?" Rex asked in disbelief

"Food!" Fives exclaimed

"I know Captain. I still have no idea how she did it," Sterling shook her head "Don't forget to save some pancakes for those who didn't get any."

"There's still more coming," Emily said.

"I think I made too much," Sterling muttered.

"Are you kidding? Fives is here. You've made barely enough." Jesse said, "These are really good by the way."

"The maximum number of pancakes that are allowed to be consumed by a single person if four. I made too much. And hopefully, no one upstairs will smell the pancakes." Sterling said firmly looking directly at Fives

"Who's upstairs?" Rex asked

Emily shot Sterling a panicked look.

"My brother, my sister and my mom. It's what..." Sterling looked at the clock on the stove "six in the morning on a Sunday, they don't usually get up until nine."

"You haven't informed them?" Ponds asked confused

"I have twenty strange men in my house. My mom would have my head on a silver platter. My sister would be asking if I was into orgies..." Sterling shuddered at that "and my brother would be trying to "borrow" your guns. I'm not taking any chances. And the fewer people who know you're on Earth the better."

"Yeah... we need to get out of the house and find that RV. Quickly." Emily said

Sterling nodded in agreement.

"When you're all done eating, grab all your gear; so armour, weapons, clothes and charge cables. Then meet me outside." Sterling said

"Quietly. As quietly as possible," Emily said

"That too. I'll be sure to leave a note for mom. So move quickly and quietly. I'll meet you guys outside in a bit."

Rex nodded; he and Cody made a gesture to the rest of the clones around the table. They all finished eating and headed back downstairs to the basement. Emily went to the living room and grabbed her backpack, which held her computer and chargers. Sterling jogged up the stairs and back into her bedroom. She stood and looked at her sleeping sister for about a minute before she started packing. When she came back down the stairs, she was dressed simply in a pair of blue jeans and a grey hoodie. Her backpack was slung over one shoulder, containing clothes, her phone, computer, headphones, iPod and respective chargers. The two girls put their boots and coats on and stepped outside. Sterling stood in front of Emily and said quietly:

"We're doing it. There's still time to back out."

Even though Emily had said that they were sticking together, Sterling still wanted to give her friend a chance to back out. Emily shook her head, she understood what her friend was doing but wasn't planning on letting Sterling go it alone.

"I already called my mom with my phony story. You're stuck with me, Sterling." Emily said

"Then let's rock and roll Emily. First up, the boys are gonna need a change of clothes and shoes."

"So we need transport. Where can we grab an RV?" Emily asked

"There's an RV depot not too far from here, about a thirty-minute walk away. We'll grab one from there. I'll drive."

"Right. I can't drive at all and the guys have only handled speeders."

The door opened and both girls whipped around. It was only Rex and the others. All of them had their armour on.

"Everyone ready to go?" Sterling asked

"Just about, Thire and a couple others are grabbing the rest of their stuff. What's our first move?" Rex asked

"Well, our first move is to get a method of transportation. I know where we can get an RV so that's covered. Next up, get you guys some proper clothes and shoes; not to mention winter gear. Then we grab food, we'll need it. It gets pretty cold and there is a lot of snow where we're going after we grab everything." Sterling said

"How cold?" Rex asked

"How much snow?" Fives asked

"On average, negative forty degrees Celsius and between three and five feet of snow," Sterling said.

Emily made an unhappy noise while Fives let out a low whistle.

"Don't worry Emily, we'll be inside for most of it."

The rest of the clones exited the house.

"You better lock up Sterling, if we're gonna make good time getting where we need to go..." Emily trailed off

"I"ll lock the door. Good thing it's still dark." Sterling said

"I wish we could contact the Generals," Cody said.

"I wish it was possible for you to do so. Unfortunately, our tech isn't very advanced." Sterling said apologetically

"Let's get walking everybody... which way Sterling?"

"Follow me. The depot is close to the library."

The clones followed Sterling and Emily. For a half hour walk, it seemed to go by quickly. No one talked much, there were a couple of conversations being struck up every now and then and sometimes someone would ask a question and either Emily or Sterling would answer. Soon enough, the small group arrived at the depot.

"We're here," Sterling said.

Emily squinted at the various RVs on the lot.

"So, how are we gonna do this?" Emily asked, "We're gonna need keys."

"I think they keep the keys in the main office," Sterling said as she climbed over the fence, the clones following her. "Can anyone pick a lock?"

"Absolutely." Fives said

"Alright. If I were to hide keys to a bunch of RVs, where would I hide them?" Sterling asked to no one in particular

"In the office, I would imagine." Kix said

"Most likely. And probably in a safe. Can anyone crack open a safe?" Sterling asked

"I could." Echo said

"Okay. Anyone who's not coming with me to break into the office and crack a safe, could you guys do one of two things; either find the biggest RV here or get the gates open so we can drive out please?" Sterling said

"I'll handle finding the RV. Rex? Cody? Ponds?"

The three clones nodded, knowing what Emily was trying to ask.

"We'll handle getting the gates open," Rys said indicating him and Jek.

Sterling nodded at them and turned to go to the main office before Emily grabbed her arm.

"Be careful," Emily said.

"You too. Here goes nothing." Sterling said

...

All in all, it took about fifteen minutes for Fives, Echo and Sterling to break into the office and grab an assortment of keys. As they slipped out the door, Sterling murmured:

"I hope they found a big enough RV."

Almost as if Emily heard her, Sterling heard he friend call out:

"Over here!"

The trio jogged over to where they had heard Emily's voice. They found her standing at the side of a green vehicle which happened to be the second longest in the lot. Ponds and Rex both looked pleased with the selection. Sterling nodded, a glint of amusement appearing in her eyes.

"Oh yeah, that will do." She said, "Now to find the right key."

Sterling began to test out the keys to unlock the driver's side door.

"Did anyone see you?" Emily asked

Sterling looked up, it was obvious Emily trying to pretend her stomach wasn't tying itself into knots. She wanted to look cool and collected in front of Rex and Cody. Sterling gave her friend a small smile.

"There's no one here, I doubt I was seen. And I haven't heard any sirens either. I think we're in the clear for the moment." Sterling said

Emily grinned at her friend.

"This is getting kind of exciting, y'know. Let's go hit up the mall." Emily said

"I was hoping you'd say that," Sterling said as she slipped the correct key into the lock.

She unlocked the driver's side door and hopped inside, unlocking the other doors as she did so. She slipped the key into the ignition when she heard Emily take her seat in the shotgun seat.

"Please let this work. Please don't let me fail." Sterling whispered

"We can do this. We can totally do this." Emily whispered back

Emily hoped quoting Rey would bring them luck. Neither girl noticed a bunch of clones looking concerned in the back.

"I just hope someone's listening to grant us luck," Sterling whispered.

She turned the ignition and slowly started to drive. It was a little bumpy at first but the drive evened out as Sterling got used to the controls, drawing on her memories of practice driving in her grandfather's truck. Emily had put on her headphones and cranked up her music. She started singing Phoenix from Fall Out Boy. Sterling slowly started to sing along, her quiet voice slowly starting to get louder as the song progressed. When Emily got to My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark, a few clones; Fives, Echo and Jesse had joined in. Sterling felt a little better at that point.

"We should be pulling up to the mall in a few minutes," Sterling said, "Thank you."

Emily took a deep breath and turned around in her seat to face the clones.

"Okay. Game plan. We need a game plan. Rex? Cody?" Emily asked

"Any ideas boys?" Sterling asked

Rex thought for a minute and relaxed a little.

"You'll need a distraction." He said

"Okay, I figured that much. Its gonna have to be a big enough distraction that a lot of people will notice so we have enough time to get everything. Any suggestions?" Sterling asked

"Fire alarm?" Emily suggested

"That might work. But it would have to be timed just right."

"We can handle that," Cody said, his voice held a faintly amused tone.

"I know, I have confidence that you can do it." Sterling said "But this means we'll have to do out shopping in two groups. One of us will take half of the group to grab clothes and winter gear and someone else will take the other half and get boots and shoes."

"I'll take the shoe shopping," Emily said.

"I'll handle clothes," Sterling said. "You and I both have our phones, let me know when you're ready. Once we have everything and we've left the building, we'll grab food. Then we head North. I'll need someone to handle a map."

"Right. I can't read maps," There was a pause, "It seems I can't do a lot of important things."

"You keep the unit calm. I'll handle the map reading." Ponds said

"Thank you." Sterling said, "Who's going with who?"

In the end, Rex, Fives, Echo, Jesse, Kix, Warthog, Jek and Thire decided to go with Emily. Leaving Cody, Waxer, Boil, Wolffe, Sinker, Boost, Comet, Ponds, Rys, Razor and Stak to go with Sterling. Sterling parked the RV close to the door and everyone got out. The two groups went their separate ways, Emily and her group heading to Payless, Sterling and her group to Old Navy.

...

Emily walked around slowly, watching as the clones looked at boots. Several of them had already made their selections and were looking over boots for the others who weren't with them. Secretly, Emily was worried about whether or not the cashier would notice that the clones were all identical. And even though her hood was pulled up to hide her face, Emily didn't think it felt like enough cover. She wished she had worn a scarf like Sterling had. Echo appeared beside her and asked gently:

"You okay Emily?"

Emily nodded dully, she was good at lying about how comfortable. She stepped around one of the couches and asked Echo:

"You seeing anything that grabs you?"

"I did see a nice pair of boots over there." Echo said indicating where he had seen the boots

"Great! Let's check the size..." Emily said cheerfully

She felt that saying that aloud would feel necessary since she already knew that one size fits all in that particular case but that it would be less suspicious to pretend that she didn't know that little fact. Echo looked down with a small blush on his face as he whispered:

"I don't know my shoe size."

"Well, that's an easy fix..." Emily looked around for someone who had finished finding their boots. "Hey Hardcase, are you done? Could you come give us a hand over here?"

Hardcase jogged over.

"What do you need Emily?" He asked

"We need to get Echo's shoe size!" Emily said a little too quickly in her opinion

She couldn't help but wonder if she was overdoing it if trying to act normal was drawing attention to herself and the boys. She cast a quick glance at the cashier to get a read on him and nearly had a heart attack when she saw a store hand coming to assist them. Emily picked up on Hardcase saying:

"Well, my shoe size is a ten... Echo's shoe size should be the same as mine..."

Emily nodded along as she watched the store hand help them out. She was trying to focus on the music coming from her headphones which were still covering one of her ears and hoped she wasn't trembling. Emily also couldn't help but wonder how Sterling was coping.

...

In the clothing store, Sterling was slightly calmer than Emily but not by much. The teenager was looking over winter jackets as Ponds leaned over her shoulder. Sterling glanced at him and asked:

"See anything you like?"

"What's AC/DC?" Ponds asked

"It's a band. One of my favourites actually. Did you want one of their shirts?" Sterling asked

"No, I just saw Waxer with one slung over his arm." Ponds said

"Ah. Did you see anything you liked?" Sterling asked

Ponds hesitated, as if unsure how Sterling would react when he spoke next.

"There's one shirt with a cat on it..."

"Grab it and try it on," Sterling said.

Ponds chuckled;

"Alright, I will." He paused. "Are you alright? First missions are stressful."

It was easiest for him and his brothers to treat the situation as a mission, staying safe until the Generals find them. He hoped General Windu was looking for him and the others. Sterling chuckled darkly;

"I'm fine. Let's just say that if I wasn't fine, you'd know. But thank you for your concern."

"You're welcome." Ponds said

"No really, thank you. Outside my parents and Emily, not a lot of people I know care about my mental health. And I've known you barely 24 hours." Sterling said

"In the squad, we have to look out for each other. Maybe it's different for the Wolfpack, the Home Guard or General Skywalker or Kenobi's forces but in my experience, if we're well enough to hold a gun, no one else cares about what's going on in our heads." Ponds said "So it's my job as a Commander to look out for my squad, their moods and their well being. And right now, that includes you and your friend; doubly so because you're both non-combatants."

"Well, if there's one thing I've never had; it's more than one friend who cares about me in that way. Emily is the first." Sterling touched Ponds' hand lightly "Thank you."

Ponds gave her a small smile.

"Come on, let's go find the others," Sterling said

They walked towards the part of the store where the boys had promised to meet up once they had selected everything. Sterling saw Ponds grab the shirt he was talking about and sling it across his arm. Sterling found Waxer first, he was wearing Guardian's of the Galaxy shirt. Sterling couldn't help the grin that spread across her face. She gave Waxer an approving look.

"Good choice Waxer," Sterling said.

Waxer gave her a proud grin. Boil appeared a few seconds later, he had chosen very colourful shirts among his choices as well a pair of black jeans.

"Colourful, good choices too Boil. They suit you well. Dare I ask what Wolffe has picked?" Sterling asked

Wolffe strolled over, he had found the Harry Potter section. Sterling's lips twitched.

"Looks like someone has good taste in books. Now, where are Razor, Stak, Sinker, Boost, Comet and Thire?" Sterling asked

"Still figuring things out," Wolffe said as he nodded towards the fitting rooms

Sterling felt her phone buzz. She pulled it out and saw that Emily had texted. It said that they were about ready. Sterling ignored the fact that half the words were misspelled. Sterling texted back:

 _Is everything okay over there? We're almost done here by the way._

 **Everything's fine so far over here. Just say the word when you're prepared.**

 _Some of the guys are almost ready._ _Don't worry, I'll give the word when we need to pull the alarm._

 **Roger Roger.**

 _Very funny._

Sterling looked up, taking her eyes off her phone and saw that the rest of her party had returned from the change rooms with their selections. Sterling nodded and indicated that they should get in line. Once in line, Sterling pulled out her phone.

 _The guys and I are about to check out._

There was a pause before Sterling got an answer from Emily.

 **I just told Rex and Hardcase. They're both in their positions now.**

 _Alright, we're at the checkout now and the last tags are starting to come off. Get ready._

As the cashier read off the price, Sterling sent a text with only one word.

 _Now!_

The moment Sterling sent her text, the fire alarm went off. Even though Sterling knew it was coming, she still jumped. Everyone in the store all looked up and started looking around, whispering among themselves. No one was really paying attention to the brown-haired teenager surrounded by ten identical men.

"Grab your stuff let's go!" Sterling said.

...

When the alarm went off, Emily jumped a little. She quickly put the surprise of the sudden loud noise behind her as she hissed:

"Run!"

Everyone took off from the store. They were all wearing their new boots as not to lose speed. They easily caught up with Sterling and her party at the RV. Emily watched Sterling skid to a halt in front of the doors to the back, while pulling out the keys as she slid.

"Get in! Get in! Get in!" Sterling shouted

Everybody pilled inside. Emily clung to her phone for dear life, not really noticing as Fives gently placed his hand on her shoulder. Sterling, on the other hand, was more focused on getting out of the parking lot and away from the scene of their crime as possible. She gunned it out of the parking lot, her heart beating out of control while her breathing was coming in rapid bursts.

"Is everyone here?" Sterling asked, her voice shaking slightly

"Y... yeah... I feel like I'm gonna faint but I think we've got everyone." Emily said

Sterling faintly heard Cody doing a quick headcount.

"Everyone's here," Cody confirmed. "Where too next?"

"North. Away from the city." Emily said

"We need food first. Then we get the Hell outta dodge." Sterling said firmly

"Yeah. Or maybe we get out of the city and find food on the highway. There are McDonalds and Tim Hortons everywhere." Emily said

"True." Sterling took a deep breath as she saw the sign for highway 401 coming up, "Now for the true test. I need to merge on the highway. I need to concentrate on this so bear with me."

Emily nodded and fell silent, pulling her knees towards her chest. She was shaking a bit and worrying about the idea that the device Hardcase cooked up while they were driving to the mall. But she was also worried about how her mother and father were going to think if or when they found out about this. Fives squeezed her shoulder again and Emily grasped at it like it was the only thing keeping her from drowning.

Sterling grit her teeth as she drove and was silently praying that she and the others hadn't been seen by the cameras, that they wouldn't crash or worse, get themselves pulled over by the cops or worse, have an anxiety attack while driving. If anything, that was the last thing Sterling wanted to happen. All her focus had narrowed to the pedals beneath her feet, the traffic in front of her and the faint memories of the driver's handbook about merging on highways.

The clones could only watch as this happened. They were only able to worry silently as Sterling guided the RV onto the highway. Sterling tightened her grip on the steering wheel, her knuckles turning white and tried to keep her breathing even in an attempt to ward off a possible panic attack. Emily turned her music back on and turned it up, quietly singing to Avril Lavigne that time because she remembered how those songs made her grin. Eventually, Sterling seemed to relax, her grip loosening on the wheel but the tenseness in her shoulders remained.

"We're on the highway. We're in the clear for the moment." Sterling whispered

It was like a switch had been flipped, the atmosphere of the RV was no longer filled with stress and anxiety, it had relaxed and seemed to calm down a bit. Emily pushed one headphone off of her ear and said gently:

"Yeah. Yeah. That's true..." Emily gave a small smile "Hey, I think we just dealt with the hardest part."

Sterling smiled at her friend but Emily noticed that it didn't reach her eyes. She huffed and muttered:

"I hope my anxiety recognizes that."

Emily gave a small nod, her anxiety had already gone nuts and the teenager hoped that it would slow down.

"Hopefully... Does anyone here mind continuing being subjected to my singing?" Emily asked, "Or shall I turn on the radio?"

"Radio. I want to listen to the radio." Sterling let out a deep breath "Just avoid news stations. Or I might have a panic attack."

"Sure thing."

Emily reached over and turned on the radio. Sterling felt a smile creep onto her lips as the family chords to AC/DCs Highway to Hell started playing.

"Ponds, you were asking about AC/DC. Well, this is one of their songs. And a good favourite of mine." Sterling said grinning at the man in question

Emily's smile became wider and more sincere.

"Yeah, this is a classic."

"And it fits the situation."

"Indeed."

Sterling began singing along as the chorus came on. Emily joined in a few seconds later, followed closely by Fives and Wolffe. Ponds and Cody joined in at roughly the same time followed by Rex, Kix, Echo and Jesse. And it wasn't long until everyone had joined in. And after a bit, some of the stress went away all at once.

Multiple songs went by, some of the notable ones including Bohemian Rhapsody, I Was Made For Loving You, Pour Some Sugar on Me, What About Love, If I Had 1000 000$, Pop Goes the World, Rock of Ages, Back in Black, Thunderstruck, Stairway to Heaven, and various others. Sterling had already dubbed the singing as Stolen RV Karaoke. It was when One Way or Another had finished when Hardcase spotted Canada's Wonderland. Or more precisely, had spotted the Leviathan.

"Hey Emily, Sterling, what's that?" Hardcase asked

Emily looked out her window and saw what Hardcase was looking at.

"Oh. That's an amusement park... Does your galaxy really not have any?" She asked

"Judging by Hardcase's wonder-filled expression, I don't think so," Sterling said.

"That's really sad..."

"I know."

"Can we go?" Hardcase asked

Emily glanced at Sterling.

"In for a penny, in for a pound... what do you think Sterling?" Emily asked

"Eh why not... we've already committed three robberies between the two of us, what's some time and Canada's Wonderland," Sterling said.

Hardcase cheered loudly. Sterling smiled gently as she guided the RV off the highway in the direction of the amusement park.

 **And that is it for now. A big shout out and thank you to my best friend in the entire world, TheGirlWithFarTooManyIdeas for her help with some of the dialogue and scene work in the chapter, be sure to check out her stuff. Next time, the clones at Canada's Wonderland. What could go wrong? Very happy holidays to all my followers and I'll catch you all next time. Read, like and review, please. Later Dana.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Dana: I don't own Star Wars: The Clone Wars.**

 **Chapter 3**

Sterling couldn't help but smile as Hardcase cheered happily; Emily's lips twitched upwards in silent agreement. It was nice to see the generally professional clone troopers show signs of emotion other than strict stoicism. Hardcase wasn't the only one enthusiastic; Echo was staring at the park with frank speculation while Waxer and Boil exchanged eager looks. Sterling carefully maneuvered the RV into a parking space with some difficulty considering how large and clunky the vehicle was. Oddly enough, she managed to park it rather well for someone who's never driven before. Emily stood up and stretched; even after years of long car rides to visit relatives in the United States hadn't gotten rid of that feeling of sitting in one place for ages. Once everyone had gotten out of the RV, Emily turned to the clones.

"This way boys; I'll handle the tickets."

"I'll meet you guys at the ticket stand, I just need to do something first," Sterling said.

Emily raised an eyebrow; "Anything serious?"

"Just need to swap the licence plates. I "borrowed" a couple from the office back at the depot. I'll be with you guys in a minute" Sterling explained

Emily nodded, a little sheepish that she hadn't remembered that. Turning to the clones, she gestured vaguely and said, "Right. C'mon guys, let's get in line."

Swapping the licence plates took only a couple of minutes. Sterling jogged out of the parking lot to where Emily and the clones were waiting for her. Emily was standing in line with the clones, she felt a little disoriented about seeing them out of their armour. She had already bought the tickets and had been waiting for Sterling to arrive.

"Done," Sterling said. "So, what ride do people want to go on first?"

Hardcase immediately pointed at the Leviathan. Emily went wide-eyed, let out a small squeak like a cat whose tail had been stepped on and threw her hands in the air. "I'm not going on that thing!"

"I'll go with them. You can stay on the ground." Sterling said, there was a hint of apprehension in her voice that no one seemed to notice.

The brunette visibly crumpled with relief. "Thanks."

"No problem."

"Yay!" Hardcase shouted, clapping his hands together gleefully.

Echo looked kind of excited too. Kix, on the other hand, was eyeing the Leviathan in a way that made it plain that he didn't see the attraction at all. Waxer looked uncertain, while Boil was grinning.

"The attraction is riding on that thing Kix," Sterling said, noticing the medic's apprehension.

"I can tell. But..." Kix waved at the massive rail, particularly the part that tilts sideways up in the air, "... People ride it for FUN?!"

Hardcase wasn't paying attention, and Sterling noticed that he had already run off with the others to get in line with Fives and Echo.

"That and the adrenaline rush." Sterling sighed, "Come on Kix, let's get in line before the others get ahead of us."

"Adrenaline is the purpose for all these things. You get a rush without doing anything stupid, like speeding on a highway. But I prefer more SANE rides. That don't go so high up, and sideways!" Emily said, a slightly hysterical note entering her voice.

Rex was standing off to the side with Emily. He didn't want her waiting on her own; there were potential hostiles in every crowd. She noticed and smiled gratefully at him; often she found herself waiting alone when at the park, having refused to go on the ride that everyone else was enjoying. Sterling had already jogged off to catch up with the others, her short hair bouncing under her grey headband that covered her ears. Kix eyeballed the ride one more time shaking his head and taking up the spot on Emily's left. "I don't get it," he insisted. Emily chuckled with understanding.

Fortunately or unfortunately in Sterling's eyes, the line for the Leviathan was short and she ended up sitting between Waxer and Boil.

"I can do this," Sterling whispered to herself.

She hadn't realized that she was trembling until Waxer, frowning, pointed it out:

"Are you okay?" He asked gently "You're shivering."

Sterling gave the man a strained smile, if there was one thing she hated more than heights, it was insane roller coasters, it wasn't like she was going to say that. She felt it was more important to be in solidarity with these men, who'd hardly had a day off in their lives and probably hadn't had any real time to enjoy themselves. That was worth going on one or two crazy rides.

"I'm okay. I'm okay. Don't worry about me." Sterling said, with shaky confidence.

Right as she finished her sentence, the rail started moving. Sterling heard Hardcase cheer, along with several of the other patrons, from the front car. She wasn't surprised that he had sat right up at the front of the ride, in the very first car, along with Echo.

"I hope I don't lose my glasses on this," Sterling muttered, tapping the brown, blue and purple frames.

"Can't you pocket them?" Boil asked, silently cursing himself for not thinking of that before they got on.

"Pockets are too small. And they'll probably break that way." Sterling explained briefly, "And we're going up."

"Oh dear, I'm starting to think this was a mistake." Waxer said as he realized how high they were going

"Relax, how bad could it be?" Boil asked in an attempt to comfort Waxer

"That's what they all say," Sterling muttered.

Rex and Emily, who were watching from the ground as the ride was about to take off.

"I hope she's going to be okay," Emily said, biting her lip.

Rex shot Emily a concerned look, wondering if he should have insisted that Sterling didn't have to ride.

As soon as the ride stopped going up, it remained at the peak of the drop for a few seconds and then dropped. Sterling screamed at the top of her lungs, causing Kix to flinch, his hand instinctively going to his belt where his blaster would have been holstered. Emily winced sympathetically as she heard people shrieking on the ride, some with eagerness, others with regret at their life choices. Rex was pretty sure he could hear Hardcase cheering.

When the ride stopped, after what felt like an eternity for poor Sterling. She slowly released her grip on the restraints, pulling her nails out of the rail. She stumbled down the stairs, and sat down on a bench, pressing her head onto her knees. Waxer was the first to notice and was at the teenager's side, gently placing his hand on her shoulder, repeatedly asking if she was alright. That of course, summoned both Kix and Emily.

"Oh God, I forgot how much solid ground shakes like an earthquake when I get off that thing," Sterling muttered, keeping her eyes firmly on her boots.

"That was amazing!" Hardcase exclaimed bouncing on the balls of his feet.

Emily shot him a "seriously?" look as she rubbed circles on Sterling's shoulders, concern radiating off her to an almost tangible degree.

"I just need a minute, so the Earth stops shaking." Sterling took a breath, straightening her shoulders and nodding at her friend. "I'll be fine."

Kix didn't look convinced at all. Sterling was as white as a shinnies' armour. Emily also noticed that Sterling was paler than normal and handed Rex some change. He raised an eyebrow at the strange looking coins and gave her a curious look.

"Rex, could you duck into that store and grab a roll of Menthos?" She asked by way of explanation, squeezing Sterling's shoulder as she did so.

Rex nodded and jogged off. Emily turned back to Sterling. "For your stomach." She said, mostly for Kix's benefit; the clone looked like he was ready to haul her friend out of the park and give her a basic examination. He nodded in approval.

"Thank you. Son of a bitch, I forgot how close to getting sick I get after I get off that thing." Sterling muttered, rubbing her sides.

"I feel like I could fall over on even ground... are they all...?! People do this for fun?" Echo asked, eyes wide, he felt pretty sick too. He stumbled as he tried to walk, with Cody appearing at his side to keep him steady.

"Yep," Emily said with such dryness, the question of the intelligence of these people went without having to be spoken aloud. "Though, as I said to Kix, I think some people do it for the adrenaline rush."

Rex returned at that moment, a small roll of Menthos in his hand. He passed the roll to Emily, who handed it to Sterling.

"Thank you, Captain," Emily said, feeling oddly professional whenever she called him Captain instead of Rex.

Sterling tore it open, popped a few mints into her mouth and pushed herself to her feet. She seemed to have regained her equilibrium; she was always quick to bounce back. Emily relaxed a bit when she saw this, knowing it meant Sterling had recovered. Rex thought that these silent conversations reminded him of how Generals Skywalker and Kenobi interacted in the field, or after a Council session - silent understanding, and unquestioned understanding of each other. Always.

"Once everyone's collected themselves, how about we try a lower key ride..." Sterling began, waving around the park. There was much more to explore still ahead...of course...

"I wanna go on that one," Hardcase said. He was pointing at the Behemoth, the Leviathan's twin.

Emily facepalmed, muttered something about how she 'should have seen that coming', and sighed. "Lower key Hardcase!" She chastised. "Does that LOOK lower key? No, I was thinking something like the Wild Beast." She swept her gaze over the crowd of clones. "Can everybody walk? I'll lead the way."

Hardcase pouted and Sterling groaned quietly. On one hand, she didn't want to ride the Behemoth but on the other hand, she didn't want Hardcase to be disappointed.

"Alright Hardcase, I'll take you and anyone else who wants to join us on the Behemoth but after that, we are going on lower key rides or anything Emily wants to go one. Deal?" Sterling said

Hardcase and Fives both cheered loudly. Echo blanched. Rex and Cody looked amused, seeing their troops like this. Emily gave Sterling a slightly worried look which Sterling minutely waved off.

"Deal!" Hardcase said brightly.

"Okay then. Does anyone else want to come with me, Fives and Hardcase? Or will it be just me Fives and Hardcase."

Ponds put his hand up, there was no way he was leaving Sterling alone with those two. Emily giggled.

"I'm in," Boil said.

"Same here." Comet, Sinker, Boost, Warthog, Jesse, Thire, Jek, Rys, Stak and Razor said simultaneously. Emily looked at them like she couldn't comprehend any of them, before shrugging in resignation and turning her attention to her friend.

"Okay then, looks like Ponds, Boil and pretty much everyone else is in. Wolffe, Waxer, going to stay?" Sterling asked, turning towards the two that hadn't said anything yet.

"I like having my feet on solid ground," Wolffe replied, bemused by his fellow clone's antics.

"No thank you, one of those was enough!" Waxer said hotly, paling slightly at the thought.

"Alright then. Last call for anyone who wants to join us. Cody? Rex? What about you two?"

"I'll stay with Emily. Cody is still waiting for his stomach to settle." Rex said. Cody scowled and glared at Rex but didn't correct him; Emily giggled lightly though she tried to hide it. Sterling nodded and gave a small strained smile, she wasn't looking forward to this at all.

"Okay, see you guys in a bit." She gestured to the line for the Behemoth, "Come on guys."

Emily watched Sterling and the rest of the clones get in line. She shook her head and chuckled. "Hardcase is a bad influence."

"I know that better than you do... he's wired that one," Rex said.

"Heh... I suppose so." Emily was thinking about various episodes she had seen Hardcase in before...all this.

"I get the feeling Sterling isn't going on the Behemoth because she likes those things," Wolffe muttered.

"She was shivering pretty hard on the Leviathan... and out of everyone, I think she was screaming the loudest." Waxer said

"Yeah, but she doesn't want to disappoint Hardcase and the others. And neither do I, but no force on Earth would get me to ride one of those things." Emily said, waving one hand towards the sky.

"I think I speak for everyone when I say we figured that much from your reaction when Hardcase said he wanted to go on the Leviathan," Cody said.

Emily ran a hand through her hair, a little embarrassed. Her tendency to over the top phrases and speaking manners made her somewhat self-conscious; only her family didn't really bat an eye at it. "Hehehe... good."

"Are those things even safe?" Kix asked, watching as the ride drove up slowly, and then dropped too many screams.

"Yeah, they're perfectly safe." Emily said with a sigh, "They just don't look or feel it."

"Has anyone ever died on one of those things?" Rex asked, frowning

"There have been accidents, no technology is perfect... dammit, I should have offered to hold Sterling's glasses, she's mentioned people tend to have things fly away from them on the Behemoth... but serious accidents are few and far between."

"Why does she wear those?" Waxer asked, "Glasses I mean."

"It's for vision correction. She needs them to see everything clearly." Emily explained.

"Why can't she see?" Kix asked curiously.

Emily looked pensive as she considered her answer. "You know, I don't think I've ever asked. Most of my immediate family require glasses, so I don't usually think about it much."

"Can't she get surgery to correct the problem?" Kix asked

"You should ask her... look, here they come."

"Hey, guys. Emily, you were going to lead us to the Wild Beast?" Sterling asked, walking over with a mix of clones who were either happily chattering at each other or trying to pretend their knees weren't shaky.

She was still fairly pale, not as pale as she had been when she got off the Leviathan but still pretty pale. There was a slight tremor in her voice as she spoke and her voice was shaky. Her glasses were slightly askew. Emily was almost ready to ask if Sterling wanted to sit this one out and catch her breath but in the end, decided against it, if Sterling wasn't alright, she would have said something.

"Of course, this way everyone."

"Alright, let's go boys." Sterling reached up and adjusted her glasses, "I'm so glad these things stayed on. Unlike the guy in front of us who lost his phone. People tend to lose things on the Behemoth."

"Oh yeah."

"You guys have fun?"

"These rides are amazing," Hardcase said excitedly.

"Most of them are. The crazy ones are a bit much for me." Sterling looked around the park, "I'm also kind of glad the park is mostly empty today."

"Yeah, must be a slow day," Emily shrugged, not thinking much of it. Slow days did happen after all. Then she spied her ride and grinned, upped her pace. The line was short, too! "Aha! Here we are, all aboard!"

Everyone climbed into a car. Sterling ended up in a car with Kix and Jesse. Kix looked apprehensive about riding another roller coaster. Sterling noticed and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry Kix, this one isn't crazy like the Leviathan or the Behemoth," Sterling said gently.

Emily, who was sitting in front of Sterling with Cody, pulled Rex down into the seat in next to her.

"Yeah, this one's just fun. Once you get past the drop!" Emily said she was bouncing in her seat excitedly. She was thinking of her grade eight graduation trip when the girls she had been wandering the park with had convinced her to go on. There were good memories in this park.

"Why do these things have drops?" Rex asked to no one in particular as the cars slowly ascended to the peak.

"Nervous, oh fearless leader?" Emily said grinning at him, she wasn't about to admit she was nervous unless he did - and he was trained not to.

"I am not nervous," Rex said as the ride started up.

"If you say so!" Emily said, her sentence turning into a scream as the ride dropped

"Yahoo!" Sterling shouted

She could hear Fives and Hardcase cheering from the front car. Kix and Jesse were both laughing. When the ride was over and everyone had met up, Sterling said; "Well, that was fun."

Emily was laughing as she agreed with Sterling, "Yup!" She was a bit shaky, but overall she was beaming and energetic.

"The cars were rattling so much... I thought they were going to fall off the track!" Rex said, breathing heavily and shooting incredulous looks over his shoulder at the ride. It had reminded him of attacks on cruise ships.

Sterling had noticed the rattling and while it had been concerning, she had managed to put it behind her. Emily had too, but she figured that the rattling was part of the ride itself and the experience. It was WILD Beast after all.

"They should probably looking into that," Sterling muttered, "Where do we want to go next?"

"Vortex! Definitely the Vortex, that's another good one." Emily said with enthusiasm.

"Yeah, that's a good one."

"Vortex..." Kix said looking at Sterling a little nervously.

"Don't worry Kix, it's fun. Or do you want to sit this one out?" Sterling asked.

"I'm fine." The doctor insisted. "These ones aren't as bad as the first."

"Yeah, I don't like the big ones either," Sterling shook her head. "The only way people managed to get me on those things were promises of funnel cake and ice cream."

Emily grinned widely. "That's right, most of the food places here are buffets!" She winced slightly, "It's gonna hurt my wallet but hey, it'll taste good."

They had to stand in line for longer than at Wild Beast, but they didn't have to wait forever. Emily was climbing into her car as she said that, glancing back at Sterling who was in the car behind her. Rex and Cody had joined Emily in her car while Jesse and Kix climbed into Sterling's car. Emily could tell Rex wasn't happy that she was spending money on him but didn't say anything about it.

"I have some cash on me; I can grab people snacks after this if you want," Sterling said. She wanted to take some of the financial burdens off of her friend, even if it was buying snacks. The ride started up and Sterling sat back in her seat. "Here we go!"

"Another drop? They all start this way?" Rex asked somewhat plaintively.

"Yeah, it's the only way to get them moving fast enough for the ride to keep moving." Sterling explained, "That's about all I know, I don't really understand the physics."

Sterling had just finished her sentence as the ride dropped. Emily shrieked with laughter as the containers dropped. Sterling laughed loudly, her short hair whipping out behind her. Kix on the other hand; had grabbed Sterling's hand in surprise when the ride dropped thinking it was Jesse's.

"That's my hand Kix," Sterling yelled.

Kix let go, blushing a bit. Wrong person.

"You have a strong grip Kix," Sterling shrieked as the ride accelerated.

The cars hurdled over the water, tilting to the side. Emily was still laughing gleefully; "If I didn't know I would get in trouble, I'd reach out and try and touch the water!" She didn't let go of the handrail, instead leaning her head towards the glass wall of the ride box.

The ride ended shortly afterwards and everyone got off to regroup. Emily was pouting a little which made Rex look at her funny. Sterling pulled her grey headband out of her coat pocket, putting it on while asking, "Where do we want to go next?"

"I dunno... but I feel like snacks," Emily said, her stomach rumbling for emphasis.

"Snacks it is then. This way."

The group made their way towards buffets. Emily came back to the table that Sterling had snagged with a tray loaded with more brownies than is strictly healthy for one sitting. Sterling, who had been close behind her, came back with more pizza than one person should be able to eat. There was a bottle of soda balanced on her head, somehow staying upright as she walked. The clones blinked.

"Why do you have a bottle of Coke on your head?" Jesse asked, blinking.

"I needed two hands, I'm improvising," Sterling said by way of explanation, carefully setting her tray down.

"How are you keeping it balanced like that?" Ponds asked

"Practice. Lots of practice Commander." Sterling sat down next to him, "And some luck."

"Is that even healthy?" Kix asked pointing at Emily's plate. Sterling raised an amused eyebrow at her friend, who didn't look repentant in the slightest.

"Shh!. It's a secret." Emily chirped, grinning

"I'll take that as a no," Kix said, looking disapprovingly.

"I can neither confirm nor deny..." Emily trailed off suddenly, going rigid in her seat. She raised a hand and touched her forehead, her demeanour dissolving into dazed confusion. Sterling frowned, her friend's eyes seemed distant. She shot Kix a concerned look.

"I...huh...I got dizzy for a second there." Emily said faintly.

"Are you alright?" Kix asked, startled and concerned

"I...yeah. Just thought... thought I saw something for a few seconds."

That got Sterling attention, she frowned at her friend and asked; "What did you think you saw?"

"It..." Emily sighed, blinking a few times before shaking her head. "Nothing that made sense."

Sterling's frown deepened, this didn't sit well with her.

Emily dug into her brownies for about a minute before she stopped and frowned, staring at something only she could see. "Right, should go and get some pasta. Real food." She quickly got up and left the table.

"That's odd," Rex said.

Sterling stood up and followed her friend, she was getting to the bottom of this. She found Emily putting some pasta on a plate. Sterling placed her left hand on Emily's shoulder.

"There are no people over there. Let's talk over there." Sterling said

The brunette tensed and nodded in acceptance. "Okay."

Emily followed Sterling to an empty section of the buffet. Sterling leaned against a wall, as Emily placed her tray on a nearby table, pressing a hand against her forehead. That worried Sterling more; the more Emily messed with her hair, the more nervous she was.

"What happened?" Sterling asked

"It...was... I thought a Star Wars ship was flying over my head," Emily said. "A Star Destroyer."

Sterling jolted. "Were you in the park? Or were you somewhere else?"

"I'm not sure where I was...but it had a Star Wars look... maybe Coruscant? I...I don't know. It only lasted a few seconds."

"Okay...okay. That is...interesting."

Emily nodded in agreement. She would have used a stronger word than 'interesting', but for all, she knew she was imagining things due to hanging out with an RV full of clones. They returned to the buffet area, Sterling grabbing a tray for herself.

"Yeah, I blame it on dizziness and not having a proper breakfast at the moment. But...well... let's not worry the guys unless it's necessary."

"Okay, we keep this to ourselves, it could be stress or something else. Like what, I don't know. But if it happens again, let me know."

"Yeah." Emily grabbed the tongs for the pasta, "You want any of this?"

"Sure. What do you want to do once we've eaten?"

Emily thought about it for a minute. "You think they'd be any good at the carnival games?" She pointed at the clones. Sterling hummed as she thought about it.

"Probably, they're pretty strong and have good aim. You wanna test it out?"

"Should be fun." Emily finished piling up her plate, "Let's go suggest it."

"Alright, you want to ask or should I ask?"

"I'll ask, I don't want them worrying over a daydream." If it was just a daydream. But she didn't say that out loud.

"Alright."

The two girls returned to the table, Sterling taking her seat between Ponds and Cody. "Ask away my friend." She said, causing everyone to look curiously at Emily.

"So guys! New game plan, potentially." Emily crashed into her seat next to Rex, "You're all good shots, so how about we hit up the carnival games? Maybe this time we'll actually be able to win things!"

"What sort of games?" Fives asked intrigued

"All sorts of them. Um... shooting games, strength games, guessing games, accuracy games, whack-a-mole..." Sterling counted off each type of game on her fingers

Echo looked excited as did the rest of the clones.

"I'm pretty good at games that require memory work or games that have a pattern to them and whack-a-mole but everything else, I stink at. Especially grabber arm games, those are a nightmare," Sterling said.

"I suck at those toss games. I only ever won ONE toy from those." Emily said, pouting. "I've NEVER won a big doll, EVER."

Fives chuckled and shook his head. "I think we can fix that." He said with amusement.

"Yeah. We've got very good aim." Echo puffed proudly.

"Then let's eat and own those games," Emily said excitedly, before wolfing down more of her meal.

"Yeah!" Fives and Hardcase shouted happily; they had already finished.

Rex grinned and at that rare expression, Emily felt like she and Sterling had won him over.

"Those guys running the games won't know what hit 'em," Sterling said, grinning widely.

The group finished their food and headed off to the gaming section. There were more people there than in the ride section, though it was still less than the last time either had been at the carnival. Emily spotted the Whack-a-mole game and headed towards it. Waxer and Boil exchanged a look and ran after her.

Sterling saw what had caught her friend's eye and grinned; "This should be good. Who wants to go for a round of Whack-a-mole with me?"

Fives and Echo raised their hands. Emily had everything set up when Sterling, Fives and Echo joined her, Waxer and Boil. Sterling flipped her hammer in one and hand and cackled.

"Ready? GO!" she shouted

In the end, Waxer ended up winning, Sterling coming in at a close second with Emily close behind her. Sterling patted Waxer on the shoulder.

"Nice job Waxer. What prize do you want?" Sterling asked

Waxer blinked and looked up at the various prizes, he was surprised he won, Sterling was really good at the game. Emily was staring wistfully up at the giant Charmander doll. Waxer noticed Emily staring at the plushie and pointed at it.

"That's Charmander right?" Sterling asked Emily. She had never played Pokemon, though she knew her friend was a huge fan of the series.

"Yeah."

Waxer, upon receiving his prize, passed it to Emily. She blinked up at Waxer, surprised. "Eh?"

"I need both my hands to win more games." Waxer said by way of explanation, smiling at her.

Emily smiled in turn, a bit more shyly, mumbling 'thank you' and hugging the Charmander against her chest like a little girl. Sterling, having tossed a glance over her shoulder, let out a sharp snort. "Looks like someone is trying the grabber arm game."

She was watching with rapt attention as Rex played.

"Oh wow," Emily said, having looked up to see what was happening.

"Now that is some skill," Sterling remarked as the game played on.

"What can I say? Captain Rex is the ace." Fives said proudly

"You are aware those games are meant to be practically impossible to do right Fives?" Sterling asked, semi-rhetorically.

Fives shot her an incredulous look when the victory bell dinged and Rex claimed his prize. "Are you sure?" He asked

"It's the design of the game and the engineering of the arm and several other factors such as how wobbly the arm is and how much time you have to retrieve a prize." Sterling explained before adding "Congratulations Rex." when the Captain returned to their group.

"Thank you." The older clone looked unduly pleased with himself.

Where's Cody?"

Emily glanced around for a few seconds before her eyes fell on the nearest ring tossing game. "Getting acquainted with frustration, I believe," She commented.

Sterling looked where Emily was pointing and snorted. Cody was glaring at the board, he had managed to get one ring out of ten he had asked for on the board and he only had two left.

"Oh boy," Sterling said with a shake of her head, she'd been there before.

"Let's go see if we can help... if that's even possible," Emily said, her tone suggesting that she doubted it. "Makes me wish I was a Jedi. I could use the Force to help him win." She had a grudge against that game.

"Yeah, but right now we just got our arms. And Rex."

"Right. We have Rex."

Rex chuckled and shook his head, unsure what to make of the praise.

"Come on, let's go give Cody a hand," Sterling said.

The group joined Cody at the ring toss game. Rex proceeded to help Cody with some tips while Fives, Echo, Waxer, Boil, Sterling and Emily watched on. Eventually, the game was over and Cody had won a prize, he grinned smugly at the man running the game as the prize was handed over.

"Nice job you two," Sterling said patting Cody's shoulder. Emily settled for giving him a hugely impressed look.

Cody, who had one arm wrapped around his prize; a massive cat doll, looked rather disgruntled. "That was harder than I had anticipated," he grunted.

"It's the angle of the board, the size and the weight of the rings that make the game hard. Most people could win a small prize but if you're a little kid or someone with motor or mobility issues, the game can become practically impossible," Sterling explained.

"The park's visitors are mostly kids,"Boil pointed out

"There are easier games, but if you want the big dolls you have to get lucky or be really good," Emily said.

"I know, I've never managed to win at these games. They aren't easy," Sterling said.

"I've won a few. Nothing beats that feeling."

"Well, the feeling of victory is a nice one."

"It's a good feeling to get in mundane situations like this," Rex said.

Sterling looked at the ground, she didn't know what to say.

Emily caught the mood and tried to steer it elsewhere. "Oh look, it's one of those water race games!" She turned to the nearest clone and grinned, "Let's give it a try. Fives? You wanna race me?"

"Sure."

"I'll be cheering for you Emily," Sterling said.

"Awesome. This time, I'm gonna win."

"Have fun."

Emily flashed her friend a grin and sat down next to Fives. The race began and in the end, Emily won. She returned to the others, her Charmander doll under one arm and her new Zorua plushie under the other, smiling smugly.

"Good job Emily," Sterling said giving Emily a high five.

Fives looked rueful. "I seem to be losing my edge." He muttered, mock seriously.

Emily stuck her tongue out at him. "That was pure skill and you know it."

Sterling started laughing. "Yes Fives, that was some skill but Emily beat you fair and square."

Fives crossed his arms and pouted. Hardcase and Echo both snickered, while Waxer looked sympathetic. Ponds just seemed amused, and he watched Emily adjust her grip on the Zoura doll with a pleased gleam in his eyes. Sterling reached out and patted Fives's shoulder. "Don't worry Fives. You'll find someone to beat."

The group continued to wander, picking out games at random and watching the boys win. The clones kept collecting more and more toys, the booth people seemed to be getting a little flustered by the whole thing. Sterling was standing off to the side with Emily, one arm around the Gamora doll she won and one arm around the Wonder Woman doll Waxer won for her. She couldn't help but laugh at the booth people's faces every time one of the clones won a prize.

"It's almost as if they don't expect anyone to win at these," Fives observed as he showed off his Garfield plush.

Emily looked at the clones, watching them. Rex, Cody, Wolffe and Ponds seemed relaxed, which she didn't ever remember them being in the show. Hardcase and Echo had devolved into kids in a candy store kind of glee. Emily laughed, and explained, "They expect you to win once or twice – not as often as us."

"Oh yes. They don't expect victory more than once," Sterling said

"Especially not the big toys!"

"Nope, the big ones are wishful thinking."

"They shouldn't have invited the 501st then," Echo said fiercely.

"True Echo. Too true," Sterling said with a shake of her head.

The group trawled the games for another hour, picking up more prizes as they went. Eventually, Sterling noticed the sun had started to set.

"Oh jeez, it's late. We should get back on the road," Sterling said, catching everyone's attention.

The clones who were playing games finished up and collected their prizes. Then they started heading back to where Sterling had parked the RV. As they were crossing the parking lot, Emily said to Sterling:

"Heh, maybe we should have stolen a Greyhound bus after all – we'd not for certain we had enough for all the stuff."

"I can't drive a bus. I barely know how to drive an RV."

"I know, I know, I'm being funny," Emily hoisted the dolls again. "Maybe we should have at least stolen a shopping cart!"

"Maybe."

Rex rolled his eyes in amusement and took one of the stuffies that Emily was juggling.

"There will be room." He said. She beamed gratefully at him.

"You okay back there Waxer?" Sterling called back.

"Sure," Waxer called back.

He was carrying three giant dolls in his arms. Emily laughed;

"Help him out Boil."

"You want me to take one Waxer?" Sterling asked

"I'm good... really..." Waxer said weakly, he was having trouble seeing as he didn't want to ask for help carrying dolls.

"What do you think Boil, should we help him?" Sterling asked

Boil let out a huff, rolled his eyes and took one stuffie from Waxer. Waxer's shoulders slumped a bit because he saw a lot of teasing in his future. As did Sterling, she was going to nip that in the bud if she had too. She hated being teased. She squeezed Waxer shoulder softly.

"Hey, I won't let them tease you too much," She said

Waxer gave Sterling a small smile. The group arrived at the RV and piled in. Emily taking her place in the shotgun seat and Sterling taking her place in the driver's seat. Sterling turned the ignition and manoeuvred the RV out of the parking lot and back onto the highway. She flashed everyone a grin from the rear-view mirror.

"Next stop, northern Ontario. Otherwise known as Canada's second Arctic. Well, in my eyes at least," Sterling said.

"Yay," Emily said sarcastically. "I'm so glad we got winter coats... it's gonna be freezing."

"We won't go outside much," Sterling squinted at the dashboard. "We should probably stop soon though."

"Yeah. Hey Ponds, can you find a nearby rest stop?" Emily asked, passing Ponds the map

"Sure," He scanned the map for a minute. "There's one about... 20 kilometres away. Why do we need to stop if I may ask?" Ponds asked, looking up.

"Because Sterling needs sleep if she's gonna be driving all night," Emily said

"And we need gas and you guys should stretch out, use the bathroom and grab stuff to eat. The further away from the city we get, the fewer places there are to get food and use the bathroom," Sterling said

"That too."

"So when we get to the rest stop, I'll get gas and take a nap. You guys can do whatever you want, eat, sleep, whatever; just as long as you don't destroy anything or call attention to yourselves."

The clones looked affronted at the implications that they'd be so unprofessional. Though Rex was eyeing Fives and Hardcase.

"I trust you all. We'll be fine," Sterling said. "Shall I turn on the radio?

"Yes please," Rex said.

Sterling reached over and turned on the radio. Shake it off started playing from the speakers. Sterling lips twitched.

"Taylor Swift."

Emily giggled and pulled her headphones down around her neck. She hummed the intro beat, said 'shake it off' under her breath, and bounced slightly in her seat.

"I like this song," Fives said.

"It's a guilty pleasure of mine... it's catchy," Emily said.

"Really catchy," Sterling said.

Eventually, the song came to an end and a news report came on. Sterling's grip tightened on the wheel. Emily switched the station to a classical music station, not wanting her to worry while she was at the wheel. Sterling's grip relaxed.

"Thank you."

"No problem. Hey, I had an idea for a story..." Emily pulled out her laptop and opened it. The thought had come to her during the games...

"You write?" Cody asked, surprised.

"Yeah. We both do actually. It's a hobby," Sterling said. "Tell me about the story."

Emily smiled, then adopted a storyteller's voice; an imitation of Cate Blanchett's tone during the opening of the first Lord of the Rings movie. "In which, in the far, far future, a petty border war is interrupted by aliens fleeing an evil empire..."

"Ooh. What happens next?" Sterling almost immediately interrupted. Emily pondered that for a moment before the answer came to her.

"The aliens trans-warp drive is damaged and they're in a hurry to fix it and continue their journey. They've been fleeing this enemy for generations beyond counting. Humanity, of course, is torn between xenophobes, people who want the alien's tech and those who want to know what they're running from."

"What are they running from?" Ponds asked.

"A tyrannical empire that has ruled the distant universe since the since time immemorial... these aliens spearheaded the only successful rebellion against them in living memory, but tragedy and the empires ruthlessness has forced them to flee for their lives."

"That empire sounds kind of like the Separatists," Rex remarked.

"Well, sort of," Emily said with a serious look. "This empire had never suffered obedience to anyone but themselves."

"Yeesh. So, what else happens?"

"Humanity has lived so far from them, they have never known their cruelty. Some of the aliens are impatient; a remnant that they may be, but their technology is stronger than humanity's and buried on the Moon is an element desperately needed to fix their warp drives."

A pause as Emily takes a breath.

"Who fires the first shot is unclear. But the aliens – Zandred – claim the moon in short order after a terrible one-sided battle."

"Why did the battle start?"

"No one's certain. At first. It took a while for people to dig past the propaganda"

"At first?"

"Was the first shot deliberate?" Cody asked

"One man from one side of the human border conflict attempted to impress one of the smaller ships of the alien fleet. He assumed it carried supplies and munitions. Instead, it carried civilians; families and children. One of the Zandred Admiral Board responded to this with extreme prejudice."

"Uh oh." Cody paled rapidly at the implication.

"The civilians were killed?" Ponds asked, sickened at the concept.

"Not many. But that was more than the admirals were willing to tolerate; the one who ordered the retaliation was deaf to pleas that it was a misunderstanding. The sheer intensity of his retaliation was... somewhat disproportionate."

"Let me guess, the retaliation killed more civilians than the first shot did?" Thire asked

"Not by design. The Zandred, due to exclusively living on spaceships, are very organized for lacking a better word. There are no civilians on board ships meant for the military. They assumed that this was the same thing for humanity. One very young soldier discovered this was not the case when he found a dying civilian woman half buried in the rubble. He attempted to help her and call off the bombardment, but the damage had already been done."

"Oh no."

"Humanity's government must not have liked that." Ponds said, emotion colouring his voice

"Yes. Many among humanity feared that the Zandred were merely taking the first step to becoming their new overlords... yet it still took them a year of fighting, and loosing, to put aside the petty border dispute and face their new opponents united.

"You mean that the ones fighting over a border were unable to come together to fight against the Zandred for over a year." Cody relayed disbelievingly

"Unbelievable," Jek muttered.

"Dare I ask what this border dispute was about?" Echo asked

"That's "national pride" for you. It was a matter of zoning that the Queen and the Prime Minister of humanity's two biggest factions got into a disagreement about," Mirth coloured Emily's voice as she said that. "Anyway... what humanity discovered is that the Zandred have psychic powers; for the more talented among them, that included combat precognition."

"That sound handy," Wolffe said.

"It is. And their greatest weapons – massive golems humanity calls Jeagers – are dependent on those powers to work to full capacity. One day, however, a human girl of about 13 climbs into a fallen Jaeger and takes control of it. This is Maria, humanity's first known psychic."

"How do both sides take that news?" Sterling asked

"Well, the queen immediately adopts her and makes her their figurehead... the other side, however, is trying to reverse engineer the Jaeger tech with mixed results. One of the test pilots is a young man named Aiden."

Another pause.

"Once the news does become public, the Queen arranged for Maria to go to the testing facility both as a gesture of good will and to see if they can finally bring better weapons to this losing struggle."

"How well does that work?"

"It works fairly well, actually. Aiden may be cold to anyone he doesn't care about, he essentially adopts Maria and looks out for her, especially when they fight battles side by side. Aiden is a Dead Zone, as it turns out. Basically, he is unaffected by psychic powers when he enters a certain state of mind. It makes him very dangerous."

"How come the psychic powers don't work on him?" Rys asked

"Something happens during a battle that makes him become unreadable. The Zandred themselves can only speculate; at first. They've never seen anything like that."

"What are some of the Zandred's theories?" Kix wondered

"Well, the Admirals decide they need a new strategy. In this case, planted agents. There's enough physical resemblance between Zandred and Humanity that with the help of holographic bracelets, they could pass for humans," Emily paused. "It helps that they are...physically similar to humanity. There's a reason for that, but I don't want to give it away just yet."

"Well, Aiden and Maria are sent to review new recruits. There are at least six more than were expected...and at least one of them is a spy. Who among these people is actually one of the Zandred's most capable warriors? Is it Aria, who is cynical and temperamental and distains High Command? Is it Fay, so quiet and meek and wracked by guilt over something in her past she refuses to explain? Or is it Zavier, who is loyal and kind and befriends Aiden within the first month?"

"How does that happen?" Echo asked, " You mentioned Aiden was cold around people he doesn't care about."

"Yeah, that's somewhat out of necessity; Aiden's father is an important General and politician so most people try and get to him – one way or another – just to advance themselves. It left Aiden rather jaded. But he and Zavier quickly find that they have much they agree on; Aiden is interested in Zavier's selfless side while Zavier is fascinated by Aiden's endurance. That's the best I can describe it." Emily took a breath. "Aiden, at one point tells Zavier that he's glad to have someone he can be close to because he doesn't want to burden Maria with his baggage. He says that he mostly fights in this war because he wants to know why his mother – who was far warmer to him than his father, the only person whose affection he never doubted – had to die. His mother. Who died on the moon. In the original Zandred attack"

"Oh Gods," Cody muttered.

Sterling cringed. "Ooh, man... The poor kid. At least he has someone to confide in."

"I wonder what the spy will think if they feel anything for their 'comrades' at all when they learn of that..." Fives muttered.

Emily winced and nodded grimly. "I'm gonna need hot chocolate when writing that passage. He's going to find out." She closed her eyes. "He'll be distraught, him and Maria both..."

There was a quiet moment in the RV as clones and girls alike pictured the scene in their heads. "What should one be loyal to first? To country? To their family? To their friends and the ones they love? To an ideal? To the future?" Emily shrugged. "I designed it so people would wonder before I offer an answer late in the text. Needless to say, all this makes diplomacy awkward later in the series."

"No kidding," Sterling snorted

"What changed to make Humanity and the Zandred to be more diplomatic?" Echo asked

"Yeah... all because an empire scout ship appeared after the first cease-fire between the two sides. Our spies, now a Colonel and a Commandant, argue that they should – if not straight up take Humanity with them as atonement – warn them exactly what's coming and give them the means to escape themselves. And guess who's in the diplomat party? Aiden AND Maria, who they love (to different extents). The Empire's scout ship means their forces are catching up again..."

Kix took a breath. He'd almost forgotten the reason the aliens were in the Milky Way. "An Empire scout ship...that isn't good."

"Yeah. This finally causes Zandred to reach out to humanity on an equal level finally explain their whole history and WHY everyone had been so trigger-edged before. The whole time, one spy feels Aiden's eyes burning into him."

"Why were the Zandred all trigger-edged?" Waxer wondered, having seen something he thought was a problem. "Wouldn't it have been wiser to ally with humanity from the start and simply ask for repairs and assistance?"

Emily shook their head slightly. "They needed to fix their warp drive. They weren't sure if the Empire would catch up right away or not, they thought they had to keep running or be destroyed."

"Which lead to a giant misunderstanding that got a lot of people killed."

"Part misunderstanding, part reckless greed. Both sides acted poorly in the heart of the moment. It got out of control fast, that's for sure. But the direness of this situation cannot be denied. And near the end of the meeting, questions flying everywhere, Aiden speaks for the first time and flatly asks something that silences the room."

"What did he ask?"

"What's the point of running?" Emily quoted.

"That would shut up a room. What was the given answer?"

"We cannot win."

Emily took a breath. "Aiden doesn't say anything to that for a few minutes. He merely looks contemplative. Then he says, "is that so," and leaves the room."

"Didn't the Zandred try and put up a fight?" Rex asked, unsure why these tactically intelligent aliens were literally crossing multiple galaxies to get away rather than face their enemy as they were doing themselves.

"At first yes. Their rebellion was the first and only one to damage the Empire. But the retaliation they suffered in turn... they had to flee."

"What happened?" Jesse asked

"Nearly successful genocide happened. The Empire has a number of psychic super weapons."

"What kind of super weapons?" Wolffe asked

"They call it Angel Halo. It's kind of a sick irony that name, because what it does is they strap a thousand psychics in to serve as batteries and the attack the minds of their targets until they either cause permanent brain damage, or the victim commits suicide."

The silence that filled the RV at those words was deafening.

"Oh my God. That's horrible," Sterling said, aghast

"Yeah... that's ONE of their weapons," Emily chuckled dryly. "Of course, that doesn't account for something the Empire is far too arrogant to believe exists. Dead Zone."

"Aiden," Sterling concluded

"Exactly – oh woah! Isn't that our stop coming up?!"

Sterling looked ahead and sure enough, the rest stop was coming up.

"Yep. That's our stop. Just let me get off the highway and we can stop."

"Snacks sound really good! Wow, monologuing makes me thirsty." Emily smiled. All the clones looked a little disappointed they wouldn't be hearing more of this story; Waxer and Boil in particular.

Sterling moved the RV off the highway. She was getting better at highway driving. The transition from the highway to the ramp off the highway was far smoother than the first time she tried to get off the highway. She pulled in front of the doors to let everyone out.

"And we're off the highway. I'll refill the gas tank and then park in the RV parking zone and take a nap. I think two hours will do the trick," Sterling said

"Right! Let's get the good stuff guys."

"Have fun guys, I'll be in here if you need me."

"Think she'll be okay with only two hours of sleep?" Kix asked quietly

Emily hopped out of the RV, her computer tucked under one arm, with Rex and Kix right behind her. She glanced back at her friend who was waiting patiently for everyone to hop out and frowned slightly.

"I hope so. She may need extra coats or something to sleep well."

"Razor, Stak, leave your coats in here for Sterling," Ponds said

The two troopers did so, leaving their jackets on their chairs. Once everyone was out of the vehicle, Sterling pulled into the gas station. Only remembering watching her parents fill a gas tank, Sterling followed her memories. She headed inside to pay, remembering that bank account can be tracked. She paid quickly and left the register. She climbed back inside the RV and spotted the jackets. She parked in an empty spot and climbed into the back. She folded up Stak's jacket into a pillow, her own jacket would serve as a blanket for her legs while she put on Razor's jacket. She put on her headphones and let her Sun album knock her out.

Back with Emily, the group of twenty-one people walked inside.

"Think we should get her something for when we start driving again?" Waxer asked

"Yeah. Maybe hot chocolate, or something else that has a little pick-me-up to it," Emily said.

"Whiskey maybe?" Hardcase asked

Emily made a face at him. "We're not old enough, and even if we were I'd rather she not drink and drive. Not safe. I think I'm liking hot chocolate."

"What is hot chocolate? I've never heard of it," Kix said

Emily's step faltered and she balked at him, eyes wide. "You've never had – oh Lord – this way, quickly! I'll show you."

The clones followed Emily, who was dragging Kix by the forearm into the – fairly – long line up at Tim Hortons.

"Is hot chocolate a drink of some kind?" Boost asked

"It's only one of the best drinks ever!"

"I'll take your word for it," Sinker said

"You don't have to," Emily said

Eventually, the party of twenty-one got to the register. Emily took the lead. "We'll take twenty-two hot chocolates, forty assorted timbits..." She glanced at the clones and let them order snacks for themselves

Rex, Cody and Hardcase ordered vanilla dip donuts, Emily, Ponds, Stak and Thire ordered fruit explosion muffins, Jek, Rys, Wolffe and Comet ordered double chocolate muffins, Kix and Jesse ordered croissants, Waxer, Boil, Fives and Echo ordered chocolate chip muffins and Sinker, Boost, Warthog and Razor ordered Boston cream donuts. As the cashier was pulling up the total, he asked Emily:

"Are you having a party miss?"

"Star Wars party. We're on our way to one, actually!" Emily said brightly. She found that her acting was far more natural then her acting back in the shoe store. Probably because she felt more relaxed.

"Clone Wars themed miss?"

"Yup! It's the best show after all."

The cashier squinted at Emily. "Have I seen you before Miss? You look familiar."

"I don't think so, I haven't been this way for a while," Emily lied.

Behind her, Rex tensed slightly.

"But I know I've seen you before." The cashier said

Emily chuckled nervously. "That's funny..."

It suddenly hit her like a runaway train, she never took off the sweater she had on when she and Sterling had robbed the mall. The cashier shook his head. "I might be imagining things. Here's your order, have a nice evening Miss."

"Thank you," Emily said, still smiling.

She paid quickly and proceeded to get out of the building. The clones followed close behind her.

"Damn it. That was close," She muttered

"You think he recognized you?" Cody asked

"It's possible. Damn it, maybe. We need to check the news. Here guys, hold the food... this place had WiFi, gimme a sec..."

Emily sat down on the chilled sidewalk and pulled open her computer. Her fingers flashed across the keyboard as she went online.

"Well?" Rex asked

Emily stiffened violently and jerked back. "Shit. Shitshitshitshit."

The clones gathered around, trying to see over her shoulder.

Emily was staring at a news article with a video clip at the top of the page. It was surveillance footage of her, Sterling and the clones bolting across the parking lot and jumping into the RV.

"What is it?" Boil asked, tensed.

But Emily's mind was elsewhere, all her focus was on the grainy footage. They had been caught on film.

"Emily? Hey Emily... Jesse, go get Kix. Now!" Waxer said urgently

"Look! We were taped leaving the scene! I should've figured there would be cameras in the parking lot too," Emily scanned the article and the video again. "Oh good, they didn't see out faces, shit, what if mom saw this?"

By that point, Emily was starting to hyperventilate. Kix got down on his knees and gently placed his hands on Emily's, he needed to calm her down.

"Emily, breathe with me. Everything's gonna be okay. We won't let them take you or Sterling. I promise," Kix said firmly and using his medic voice.

And he meant it, neither he nor his brothers would let anything happen to the two girls who had helped them. Emily closed her eyes and gave a tiny nod, her breathing starting to slow down.

"Need hot chocolate. Please," Emily said

"Here," Kix said passing her the drink

"Thank you," Emily said before taking a drink and glancing up at the clones. "You guys can try yours too."

The clones picked up their drinks and took tentative sips.

"Should we leave?" Waxer asked

Emily shook her head. "Sterling needs more rest if she's gonna drive through the night. We just need to act natural. That guy did brush it off at the end. We can't hang around too long but we can't afford to bolt."

"Do we even tell Sterling about this?" Ponds asked

"...Not right away. She'll panic, I'm pretty close to panicking. We'll have to tell her eventually but it can wait... unless police cars start showing up."

"I get the feeling her mental state isn't a very stable one," Wolffe said.

Emily laughed flatly, no humour in her voice. "Neither of us are very good with stress."

"What happens if police cars start showing up?" Cody asked

"It means we have to tiptoe quietly out of here or if they're onto us, we'll need a new strategy. Luckily, they didn't get shots of our faces or a good look at the RV, plus Sterling changed the license plates."

"That's good at least," Fives said.

"What do we do if Sterling figures out that there was a video taken of us leaving the mall? She's not stupid," Echo pointed out.

"We tell her before she sees anything, or else she'll be scared AND she'll be mad at us, I say, we tell her at the next rest stop," Emily finished her hot chocolate. "My muffin please."

"Here," Rex said passing her the treat.

"Can I ask what Sterling's like when she's scared and when she's mad?" Ponds asked

"Thanks," Emily took the muffin. "I've never personally seen her mad, not seriously angry. I've seen her scared; she turns in on herself."

"What do you mean?" Ponds asked

"She doesn't say much, she shakes, she can't fall asleep."

"You've seen her like that before?" Waxer asked

"Once or twice," Emily checked her watch. About an hour had passed. "Come on, let's head back to the RV."

Emily didn't want to say she and Sterling had been scared to help them at first.

"Should we get her something?" Ponds asked

"I got her hot chocolate," Emily raised the unopened cup. "Don't worry."

"Should we grab snacks?" Fives asked

Emily laughed and passed Fives some cash. "You guys do that, I'll meet you back at the RV."

Emily headed back to the RV while the clones went inside. She found two jackets on one of the beds but no Sterling. She found Sterling wrapped up in Razor's coat, in the front seat. Her eyes distant as she stared out at the horizon. She didn't turn to look at Emily when her friend sat down.

"Is it time to go?" Sterling asked

"Almost. The guys are getting snacks. Here, this is for you," Emily said passing Sterling the hot chocolate. "Good nap?"

"Thank you," Sterling said taking the cup and sipping the liquid. "And it was a nice nap up until things got... funny."

"Funny..." Emily tensed

"Yeah, I had this wacky dream. And I haven't been able to get back to sleep since" Sterling said with a shrug.

"Define wacky. We talking skyscraper-sized cheesecake?"

"No. While I have dreamed of that before, this was different. It felt too real."

Emily looked out the windshield for a minute before speaking again. "Did you see a starship?"

"Yeah. One Republic cruiser and an Imperial Star Destroyer. Why?" Sterling asked

"Just like I did," Emily sat back in the shotgun seat. Her hands were shaking and she pressed her back against the chair in a vain attempt to steady herself. "What does this all mean? We have an RV full of clones. This can't mean nothing."

"I don't know. Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

Sterling took a deep breath. "In the days before the clones arrived, did you ever feel like... I don't know... that something was coming?"

Emily pondered her answer. "I... kind of felt nervous when I woke up the morning before I came over to your place. Like I was anticipating something."

"Me too. What about when we were at the park, did you feel like there was... I don't know how to define it... like something was racing through your veins and across your skin?"

"I can't really remember the sensation – so much has happened since then – but I think I did."

"What does this all mean; a feeling of anticipation before we meet up, a strange sensation that happens when we go to the park, the clones and now those ships... what's happening?"

"The Force," There was a beat of silence that met Emily's instant pronouncement. "It's the fucking Force. What else gives people premonitions?"

"You mean... we might be... Force-sensitive?"

"I don't know!" Emily's voice had become slightly hysterical.

"Well, shit!"

Emily buried her face in her hands and whined.

"Okay... okay... okay... okay... we can handle this... I hope," Sterling shook her head. "We're fucked. We're fucked!"

"It's the only thing that makes sense, oh god why?"

"Yeah. But why us? Why would the Force chose us of all the people on this planet?"

"I don't know!" Emily shouted. "We're so fu- wait." Something occurred to her, cutting through her current panic. Her eyes widened into disks. "If we're Force-sensitive, hypothetically at least, can the Jedi sense us?"

"Maybe... but I get the feeling that if the Jedi could sense us, they would have come here by now," Sterling said grimly. "Is there something else bothering you?"

"If they can sense us, maybe HE can sense us...!" Emily had to swallow over a lump in her throat.

Sterling didn't have to ask who "he" was, she had a decent guess of her own.

"Think about it - they're at war and most of Earth don't know they're real. Maybe they're just... well... far, far away." Emily said, mostly thinking aloud. "And if the clones are real, HE is real...!"

"True, we might be too far away for them to pick up on our Force signatures. If we even have them."

"Damn it, I shouldn't have said that!" Emily gasped.

"Why?"

"Is something wrong?" It was Rex, standing in the doorway of the RV. Just seeing him caused the girls to calm down; it was the presence he radiated.

"Nothing. Just making myself panic over a thought." Emily glanced at Rex, "You guys done?"

"No. Everything is fine Rex. There is nothing wrong." Sterling said

Rex nodded slowly, it was obvious he was not convinced but said nothing. He climbed into the RV, taking his seat with Kix, who was right behind Rex, right behind Emily. The rest of the clones piled in, arms full of chips, cookies and candy bars.

"Did everyone use the bathroom?" Sterling asked, "Cause if you haven't, you're doing it on the side of the road."

There was a jolt of laughter and a general confirmation that they were ready to go.

"Alright, let's rock and roll."

Emily began singing We Are The Champions as Sterling pulled out of the parking lot and merged onto the highway. Sterling started singing along instantly. A couple of lines in and Fives, Hardcase and Waxer joined in with the singing. Echo and the Wolfpack joining in a few minutes later.

And there they were headed down the road, singing along to Queen. Mid-way through We Will Rock You, Sterling heard music that wasn't Queen.

"Emily, is that your phone?" Sterling asked

Emily glanced down, pulled the small device out of her pocket and swore in the little Japanese she knew from watching a lot of anime. Sterling shot her friend a concerned look.

"...It's mom."

The clones all fell silent. Emily took a deep breath and answered.

"Oh shit." Sterling breathed

"Hey, mom!" The brunette's face was at odds with her voice. She looked like someone desperately trying to win at Poker. "... Yeah, it's – it's been going pretty well actually. My neighbours are dicks though, they kept partying until after two in the morning. Wha? Will I be home this weekend? Um... g-geez, I'd like to but I wanted to see how long I could manage. You know, t-test for adulthood. Y-yeah, I'll ask around... Yup, love you too."

Emily turned off her phone and buried her face in her knees. "She's gonna be mad. And disappointed. And so, so mad."

Sterling reached out and patted her friend on the shoulder. Fives did the same, trying to soothe her. After a moment of thought, he passed her one of the dolls they had won; Emily took it and pressed it against her chest.

"It'll be okay," Sterling whispered.

Emily grabbed Sterling's hand and squeezed it, seeking reassurance. That was when Sterling felt her phone in her pocket start vibrating.

"Oh no."

She knew exactly who it was and so did Emily.

"We can't pull over." The brunette said, trying to stay calm for Sterling's sake. "Hand it to me?"

"Here..." Sterling passed her phone to Emily, "It's my mom."

"Wish me luck," Emily said. She hit Talk. "Hello."

Sterling could hear her mother:

"Emily? Where's Sterling?"

"Having a shower." Emily lied; it was the first thing that came to mind. "Shall I pass her a message?"

"I can wait."

Sterling pursed her lips, her mother knew. Emily cast Sterling a nervous glance mouthing: "What should I say?".

"Put the phone on speaker," Sterling said sharply.

Emily nodded and did as Sterling said, not entirely sure what her friend was up too. Then a horrible idea entered her head. Sterling wasn't about too...

"Mom, I want you to listen to me. Whatever you hear on the news, whatever you see in the papers or on TV, don't blame yourself for it. Don't think of it as something you did wrong, think of it as something you did right." Sterling said, voice sharp and commanding.

Emily's head jerked violently at her friend, what was Sterling doing?

"What? What's that supposed to mean?" Sterling's mother demanded. "Sterling, are you in trouble?"

"I'm not in trouble. But things are going to be really complicated." Sterling said, "I'm losing the connection. I'm sorry. I love you, mom."

And without another word, Sterling reached over and hung up. Sterling pressed down hard on the gas pedal, face blank, eyes forward, shoulders tense and her mouth set in a straight line. Rex, Cody and Ponds all stared at her, their mouths open. None of the clones were sure what to say; none of them had normal parents, the closest they had were their brothers, and that was the metric they used to know how distressing this was. Emily turned off Sterling's phone. Sterling sighed and her shoulders slumped.

"I know they saw us leave the mall. It was all over the radio." Sterling closed her eyes, "I'm sorry Emily. I shouldn't have gotten you involved in all this."

Emily bit her lip, hugging the Zorua. "I got myself involved Sterling. Don't apologize," If she was actually upset with anyone, it was herself, but she wasn't going to say that aloud and make Sterling any more upset.

"The cops know who we are Emily. They know who we are."

Emily hit her head against her seat when she figured out why her mother had called. "Then mom wanted to see if I was lying to her. God, she's never going to trust me again."

"Yeah. Mom was doing the same thing with me. I just knew," Sterling took a deep breath, "I wasn't about to let her think my actions were her fault."

"We're sorry Sterling, Emily. You did this to help us," Rex said sombrely.

"Once we can contact the Generals, we'll have them intercede for you," Cody said

Sterling sighed and glanced back at the guilty looks on the clones' faces.

"Rex, don't apologize, Emily and I knew the risks and what the consequences would be when we decided to help you," Sterling said sharply. "Cody, as much as I want to believe it's possible, contacting your Generals... our tech isn't strong enough and the Voyageur 1 satellite can't be hacked."

"You shouldn't' have had to," Rex said.

"It's not a question of pf shouldn't have Rex, it was a question of what was right," Sterling said sharply

"She's right. Doing the right thing..."

"They're looking for us. The Jedi can sense people anywhere in the galaxy. They will come to us," Cody said firmly

"Well, I hope you're right Cody. And I hope that if they are coming, that they use discretion when coming here. Because NASA and the ISS will go batshit crazy when either the Resolute or the Negotiator drop out of hyperspace right into orbit," Sterling said, mirth crawling into her voice.

Emily giggled helplessly. "You know? I almost kind of want to see that," She said

"I would too. But I'm more worried about what would happen if the American government, the Russian government or the North Korean government got their hands on that kind of firepower. Then we'd all be fucked like ducks."

"They'd have to overpower the visitors to "get their hands on it." I'll make popcorn for their attempts," Emily said, managing a smile at the thought.

Rex chuckled darkly because if anything, that undersells Anakin's vindictive side.

"True, we'd get quite the show," Sterling said.

"Let's hope they get here soon," Emily said looking up at the sky.

Sterling tossed her friend a smile. "Let's hope so. Now, who's up for another round of stolen RV karaoke?"

"Sterling!" Emily groaned as Sterling cackled her head off.

 **And that is that. I hope you all enjoyed and enjoyed your holidays. A big shout out and thank you to my best friend TheGirlWithFarTooManyIdeas for all her help with the dialogue and some scene bits. Be sure to check out her stuff. As always, read, like and review. I'll see you all next time. Later, Dana.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Dana: I don't own Star Wars: The Clone Wars.**

 *** Note: this chapter takes place as the previous chapters take place. ***

 **Chapter 4**

The Jedi temple was in disarray, twenty clone troopers had gone missing and no one was entirely sure what had happened. Not even Master Yoda had any answers to what had happened. Multiple Jedi who had their men go missing we're worried, even Master Windu was worried, not that he'd say it out loud. But the Jedi who was most worried about his troops was Jedi Knight, Anakin Skywalker.

Said Jedi was currently pacing up and down his former Master; Obi-Wan Kenobi's chamber floor.

"Stop pacing, Anakin. It won't help your nerves," Obi-Wan said.  
"My men are missing, Captain Rex included. My nerves are the least of my worries right now," Anakin said crossing his arms.  
"I understand; I'm missing Cody and a few of my men too. But they are capable men and I'm sure they're managing," Obi-Wan said in an attempt to comfort Anakin.  
"I know, but I'm still worried," Anakin sighed. "And don't give me that speech Obi-Wan, I know you're worried about your men too."  
"Did Master Yoda say anything before he began meditating?" Ahsoka asked  
"Not a word Ahsoka," Obi-Wan said, shaking his head.  
"He didn't say anything," Anakin said  
"Then that huge flux in the Force that caused them to disappear – we still don't know anything about it?" Ahsoka questioned  
"And we're not the only ones missing their men. Master Windu said that three of his men have gone missing, Master Plo says that the Wolfpack has gone missing and three members of the Coruscant Guard have gone missing too," Obi-Wan said grimly.  
"Why so random?" Anakin wondered  
"This is weird..." Ahsoka muttered  
"I don't know. It doesn't make any sense," Obi-Wan said  
"Maybe we should meditate on it too," Ahsoka suggested.  
"Right. With all of us together, we're bound to find them," Anakin said.  
"It's worth a shot," Obi-Wan said

The three Jedi sat down and began to meditate. Light years away, a young woman dreams of the Jedi temple going up in flames. Beside her, another young woman dreams of a space station that destroys a planet. Anakin's eyes open suddenly, a gasp flying from his mouth.

"Master, what did you see?" Ahsoka asked  
"I saw... a planet... a planet that's not on any of our star charts," Anakin said.  
"A planet that's not on any of our star charts?" Obi-Wan asked, raising his eyebrows.  
"I saw our men," Ahsoka said

Anakin nodded.

"The closest it resembles is Naboo... they're there, all of them."  
"They're not alone... they have two women with them," Ahsoka said. "Both of them are Human."  
"Young women, barely adults... yes, I sense them. In fact, I think I sense..." Obi-Wan trailed off  
"I think they're Force-sensitive," Ahsoka interrupted

There was silence at Ahsoka's interruption, not because she interrupted but because of her words.

"We have to get there somehow," Anakin said fiercely  
"How do we find them?" Obi-Wan questioned, "Their planet isn't even on our star charts."  
"I can feel the Force speaking to those girls," Anakin ignored the startled look Obi-Wan was giving him, the power it implies, "I think I can follow it to them."  
"There's something else about those two... I can't put my finger on it," Ahsoka said

Anakin and Obi-Wan gave the padawan a questioning look.

"It's like the Force just connected with them. Isn't that strange though?" Ahsoka asked  
"Strange how Ahsoka?" Obi-Wan asked  
"Usually people become Force-sensitive as children right? It doesn't manifest when you're a young adult," Ahsoka pointed out.  
"And these two are way older than me," Anakin said, mirth crawling into his voice  
"My best guess is that the younger girl is 18 or 19 and the older girl is 19 or 20," Ahsoka said.  
"It's certainly an odd implication but there's not much we can discern directly from here. We should focus on trying to find them," Obi-Wan pointed out.  
"Should we tell the council that we found the men?" Ahsoka asked  
"I think that would be wise," Obi-Wan said.  
"What about the women accompanying our men?" Anakin asked  
"They seem to be the ones leading them places... I think," Ahsoka said. "They felt upset."  
"The younger one is as afraid as the older one. Both are very anxious," Obi-Wan said, concerned.  
"They could be in serious trouble – we need to get to them as soon as possible!" Anakin said urgently.  
"Agreed. Let's tell the council that we found our men and that we are going to retrieve them," Obi-Wan said

The three Jedi stood and left the room. As they were making their way towards the council chambers, Anakin secretly called his wife; Padmé, over comm-link. Light years away, the older woman woke up feeling comforted, like she just had to wait something out before falling asleep again. The other woman couldn't shake the feeling that she might end up getting strangled. The three Jedi entered the council chamber, finding most of the council there. It was Obi-Wan who spoke first:

"Good news everyone, we've found our men."  
"Oh? That's good news indeed – where?" Plo Koon questioned  
"That's the bad news... they're on a planet that isn't on our star charts," Anakin said.

That got a physical reaction out of several council members.

"How's that possible?" Mace Windu asked  
"I have no idea Master. I thought it was Naboo at first... but uh... I was wrong and didn't recognize the planet," Anakin said.  
"However, our men seem to have Force-sensitive company. Tracking them in the Force should lead us to this mystery planet," Obi-Wan said  
"How old is their company?" Plo asked  
"Eighteen, nineteen?" Anakin said, "That's a rough guess."

Several council members blinked and raised their eyebrows. Master Yoda's ears raised.

"Eighteen and nineteen," Mace sighed, "That has to be the oldest age recorded for Force-sensitive individuals."  
"I'm more worried about the safety of our men," Shaak Ti said.  
"Indeed. Find them, we must." Yoda said seriously

Anakin had a feeling he wasn't just talking about the missing troopers alone.

"From what I can tell, our men are in good hands. And I think I can track them through their connection to the Force," Anakin said  
"Then let's not waste any time," Plo said.  
"Anakin, Ahsoka and I will get underway. We'll comm you once we've found our men," Obi-Wan said.  
"Should we bring back their companions?" Ahsoka asked  
"If you deem it wise," Mace said. "Force-sensitive individuals should not be left unattended with the war going on."  
"I do believe it is the best course of action. I would like to meet these two," Plo said  
"Then we'll do that," Anakin said.  
"May the Force be with you," Yoda said.

Anakin, Ahsoka and Obi-Wan bowed before leaving the room, heading to the hangar bay.

"Should we take the flagship?" Anakin asked  
"In case we need to make a statement, that may be wise," Obi-Wan said  
"I don't know if that's a good idea Masters," Ahsoka said nervously.  
"We're going into completely uncharted territory Snips. We won't want to be surprised," Anakin said  
"I understand Master but something's telling me that this planet has never been contacted by another race that isn't human or even at all," Ahsoka said. "What if they think we're going to invade them and start a war?"

There was something neither man had thought of. Ahsoka did make a good point.

"That would be problematic," Anakin said with a frown. "Do we still have that cloaking device?"  
"Not on any of the cruisers. And the ships that have them are currently in use," Obi-Wan said frowning as well.  
"What about a senator's ship?" Ahsoka asked, "They usually have cloaking devices."

Anakin looked thoughtful, Ahsoka's idea was a good one and had merit. Obi-Wan seemed to think so too.

"That would work. Now as for which Senator who would let us borrow their ship..." Obi-Wan trailed off  
"Hi, Padmé!" Ahsoka called

Ahsoka had caught sight of Padmé making her way towards them. She was alone. Anakin smiled softly. She stopped in front of them and bowed.

"I came as soon as I could," Padmé said  
"Thank you, Senator," Anakin said. "We found our men."  
"That's wonderful. Let's go get them," Padmé said.  
"Of course. Can we borrow your ship?" Ahsoka asked

Anakin huffed a laugh and shook his head. Leave it to Ahsoka to ask that question.

"Not that it's good to see you Senator but what are you doing here?" Obi-Wan asked  
"Anakin called me over comm-link and told me everything. And well, I thought I should go with you – we are visiting an uncharted world, after all," Padmé said.  
"Then we should proceed with caution. We don't know who or what we could be dealing with," Obi-Wan said nodding.  
"Of course Master," Anakin said. "Let's go!"

The group began walking to the hangar where Padmé's ship was located.

"You don't think the women who are men are with could be dangerous?" Anakin asked

That sentence caught Padmé's attention.

"I don't think so Master," Ahsoka said  
"Women?" Padmé asked  
"Are you sure Ahsoka?" Anakin asked  
"I told you, they felt scared. Plus, there's two of them among twenty troopers; I don't think we need to worry," Ahsoka said  
"Who are these women and what are they afraid of?" Padmé asked  
"There are two young women travelling with our troopers. Young adults, both newly Force-sensitive," Anakin explained  
"We're not sure what they're afraid of yet," Ahsoka said

Padmé blinked.

"I thought Force-sensitivity appeared in young children," she said.  
"Yeah. We thought so too," Anakin said.  
"How old are they?" Padmé asked  
"Eighteen and nineteen we believe," Obi-Wan said.  
"That's older than you were Anakin," Padmé said teasingly.  
"No kidding," Anakin said. "We've got more questions than answers so far."  
"What kind of questions?" Padmé asked  
"The whys, the hows and the other whys, mostly," Anakin said.  
"What are you going to do once you find your men and their companions?" Padmé asked  
"Talk to them," Anakin said with a shrug. "Hopefully get a few questions answered."  
"Just as long as we don't go full interrogation mode on them... they might be more scared of us than we think," Ahsoka said.  
"Wasn't planning to," Anakin said.  
"Good. The younger of the two seems rather skittish. The older one seems nervous," Ahsoka pointed out. "And the boys seem pretty protective of them both."  
"I could feel it," Anakin said. "C'mon Snips, I'm not incapable of being gentle."  
"You weren't the only one I was addressing Master," Ahsoka said. "I know Padmé will be gentle with them too."  
"Should I feel indignant at being left out?" Obi-Wan asked

Anakin snickered behind his hand.

"Master, it's not his fault that he can be emotionless and blunt at times," Ahsoka said, scolding her master.  
"Ahsoka!" Obi-Wan shouted he sounded hurt.  
"It's true," Anakin said  
"Very funny," Obi-Wan said bitterly

Padmé was trying to giggle to herself at the exchanged. She gestured to her ship; lips twitching.

"All aboard gentlemen," Padmé said. "Is there anything else you can tell me about these two?"  
"We've told you all we know for now," Obi-Wan said

Padmé nodded as the ramp to her ship closed behind her. She joined Anakin in the cockpit of the ship.

"Have you told your council about this?" Padmé asked  
"We just did," Ahsoka said.  
"What did they say?" Padmé asked  
"They gave us leave to go..." Anakin said, "And they would like us to bring the girls to the temple."  
"Aren't they too old to be Jedi?" Padmé asked  
"They're also too old to spontaneously develop Force-sensitivity. It's a riddle," Obi-Wan said  
"This should get interesting then," Padmé said  
"You know what they say," Anakin said as he allowed the ship to take off. " May you live in interesting times!"  
"I get the feeling that quote didn't mean that you should have twenty of your men disappear and two adult Force-sensitives appear from nowhere," Padmé said  
"It's often said ironically," Ahsoka said  
"I'll believe it," Padmé said, shaking her head.

Padmé's ship left Coruscant's atmosphere and left for the mystery planet in uncharted waters. With some help from the Force and Anakin's piloting skills, the three Jedi and the senator were able to find the planet with some simplicity. But it was still a long trip. Coming out of hyperspace and into the planet's orbit, it was easy to see why Anakin had mistaken it for Naboo in the first place. A majority of the planet was water with several continents. It certainly caused Padmé to raise her eyebrows.

"Is that the planet?" Padmé asked  
"Yeah, this is it," Anakin said.  
"It looks a little bit like Naboo," Padmé said.  
"That was the first thing we noticed and personally," Ahsoka said, "I think it looks more like a mix of Naboo and Alderaan."  
"I find myself agreeing with Ahsoka, this planet shares similarity with both Naboo and Alderaan," Obi-Wan said  
"How did your troops end up here?" Padmé asked  
"We think it has something to do with the Force," Anakin said. "I'm going to take us in."  
"Carefully I hope," Obi-Wan muttered.

Ahsoka ignored the bickering and rolled her eyes. That was when she caught sight of what she thought was a space station, she wasn't entirely sure. She pointed it out to Obi-Wan.

"What's that?"

Obi-Wan looked at where she was pointing.

"It's a very basic space station."  
"Master, you did remember to turn on the cloaking device right?" Ahsoka asked  
"Oh... right," Anakin muttered.

He flipped a switch, activating the cloaking device.

"Think they saw us?" Padmé asked  
"I think so. I can sense confusion and a touch of panic from the people on board that space station," Ahsoka said.

And she was correct, the space station she had seen was the International Space Station and most of the astronauts on board had seen the ship. Several pictures had also been taken and sent down the NASA's headquarters in the United States.

"Well, nothing's perfect," Anakin said. "We better get moving."

Anakin manoeuvred the ship onto the planet's surface, heading to where the Force told him the girls had been previously. He landed this ship in an empty lot and got out. While the Force was telling the two girls and his men weren't in that location anymore, he wanted to get a better sense of who the girls were. Everyone got off the ship and began walking around.

"Are your missing troopers here?" Padmé asked  
"I can feel them and those girls," Not exactly a lie but close enough to the truth  
"Well, they were here. Their signatures are faint but we should be able to figure out where they went pretty easily," Ahsoka said.  
"You want to get a sense of who these two girls are, don't you?" Obi-Wan asked

Anakin nodded.

"Yeah... two young women who are freaking out and trying not to let it overwhelm their need to help someone..."  
"We should try and find out their names first," Padmé suggested. "It would make it easier to find family or friends we could talk too."  
"Sterling," Ahsoka said, "Sterling and Emily."  
"How did you know?" Obi-Wan asked  
"If I concentrate really hard... they passed by here a while ago. They were talking to Rex something. The rest of the men were with them too."  
"Any idea what they were talking about?" Anakin asked

Ahsoka shook her head, all she could get in her mind's eye were the names of the two girls.

"It's okay Ahsoka," Anakin said.  
"Do you know where they were going Ahsoka?" Padmé asked  
"North."  
"They were walking North?" Obi-Wan asked incredulously  
"No, they had a..." Ahsoka's brow furrowed, "speeder with wheels?"  
"A what?" Anakin asked  
"That's what it looks like..."  
"I feel confused, speeders don't have wheels," Anakin said.  
"Perhaps they don't have the technology?" Obi-Wan said.  
"Maybe."  
"How do you think Sterling and Emily acquired such a thing? Those speeders with wheels probably aren't cheap," Padmé said.

Before any of the Jedi could answer, a voice from behind them spoke.

"Because they stole one. At least, according to the news and the cops they did."

Anakin and the others turned around in surprise. The speaker was a teenager human female of about fifteen years old. She had curly brown hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a black winter coat, black jeans and black boots.

"Easy, I'm Ash, Sterling's sister. I heard you mention my sister's name so I got curious."  
The three Jedi sensed the teenager was being truthful.

"Ah, I see," Obi-Wan said. "We're in search of your sister and her friend, as it happens... do you know where they went?"  
"As far away from the city as possible," Ash said. "Harder for the cops to catch her and Emily that way. They probably headed North. Though, why she and Emily would do something like that is completely beyond me. It's not like either of them to do that."  
"Probably because they needed to move twenty clone troopers," Anakin muttered before snorting. "Damn, I wouldn't have asked them to stick their necks out to help my men like that."

Padmé elbowed Anakin in the gut. Ash looked at Anakin frowning:

"You're funny." Ash shrugged, "But you're kinda right, Sterling and Emily didn't do this because they wanted too. It's just not in their personality. Or Sterling and Emily's anxiety."  
"Poor things," Padmé said, "we need to find them quickly. Is there anywhere in particular, in the general North area. Where your sister might go?"

Ash snorted:

"Since she's gone completely off the rails, she probably went back home to Kapuskasing. Why she'd go there to hide from the cops is beyond me, I would have gone to Mexico."  
"Mexico?" Ahsoka asked blankly  
"You're not from here are you?" Ash asked  
"No, we're from... very far away," Padmé said.  
"We need a map," Obi-Wan said  
"Maps can be bought at that store but my sister did go North," Ash said before shaking her head. "She wouldn't risk hopping the border into the United States considering the, in her eyes at least, volatile political situation going on over there."  
"I see," Anakin said. "Don't worry, we'll extract your sister and her friend and no harm will come to either of them."  
"They've done a great service, caring for and hiding our men," Obi-Wan said

Ash frowned and narrowed her eyes.

"Are you guys in the army or something?" She asked. "Cause you don't look like any soldier I've ever seen."

That caught everyone off guard. Fortunately, it was Anakin to the rescue:

"Err... yes. That is, special forces."

Ash looked skeptical and raised an eyebrow.

"I'll believe you. Just be careful with my sister, she can be pretty skittish when she's nervous or placed in the centre of attention. And if you see her, tell her I miss her and that she has a shit ton of explaining to do."  
"We will," Ahsoka promised.

Ash nodded, shoved her hands into her pocket and walked away.

"We go North then," Ahsoka relayed.  
"And we have no time to lose," Anakin said. "Let's get that map and find that place she mentioned."  
"Does anyone have any of the local currency?" Obi-Wan asked  
"No, but..." Padmé started

Anakin rolled his eyes and waved a hand at the store Ash pointed out. A map came flying out of the open door a few seconds later. Anakin caught it easily and passed it to Obi-Wan who shook his head.

"Not very subtle Anakin," Obi-Wan said.  
"What?" Anakin asked defensively. "We're in a hurry."  
"And everyone is staring at us," Ahsoka said.  
"Exactly, we're in a hurry," Anakin said.

Ahsoka looked at Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan sighed heavily and used the Jedi mind trick on the nearest, curious bystanders, Ahsoka helping him.

"Well, we have the map," Ahsoka said. "Let's go North and find the boys."  
"And the girls," Padmé said.  
"And the girls," Ahsoka relayed back.

Once the group got back on the ship, Anakin unfolded the map.

"Can any of you read this?" Anakin asked

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes. Padmé sighed. Ahsoka shook her head and took the map from her Master. As good a Jedi he may be, Anakin Skywalker could not read a map to save his life. That job usually fell to Rex. ****

 **And that's that. I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. The next one will be back to the girls and the clones. A big shout out and thank you to my best friend, TheGirlWithFarTooManyIdeas for her help with dialogue and scene stuff. Be sure to check out her stuff. As always, read, like and review. I'll see you all next time. Later, Dana.  
**


	5. Chapter 5

**Dana: I don't own Star Wars: The Clone Wars.**

 **Chapter 5**

Emily came into the realm of being awake slowly; the faded nightmares of jail cells and abandonment disappointing as she blinked her eyes open. She was stiff and sore; sleeping in a car seat wasn't comfortable. It was rare that she could do so at all, in fact, she'd only slept a few hours because of it. The sun was starting to come up over the horizon, pinks and reds colouring the sky; it was a scene that made Emily wish she was a competent artist. But there was also dark grey clouds in the distance, and the RV was heading straight for them. Shaking her head, she looked over at Sterling. The other girl was still driving, dark purple circles under her eyes. The radio was playing quietly and Sterling was singing along, her voice pitched very low so as not to wake anyone. Emily didn't recognize the song, but Sterling knew it. Emily looked over her shoulder to check on the clones. They were all sleeping soundly, dimly, she remembered that the clones had probably slept in harsher conditions.

That's when it really hit her; the smell - a foul, rank, disgusting stench that made her gag. She buried half her face in one of her mittens in a bid to weaken the smell. Sterling didn't seem affected by it; if she was, she didn't make it noticeable.

"Ugh, is that skunk?" Emily murmured, throat somewhat scratchy. "What is that?"

"Good morning," Sterling said with a brightness that was somewhat forced. She had to be absolutely exhausted, but her hands were still steady on the wheel. "And no, I wish it was a skunk."

"Oh God." The brunette groaned. At her voice, a few of the clones stirred and began to wake. War had taught them to be light sleepers.

"I'm not sure what it is. Possibly something from the paper mill around here. We're passing through..." Sterling yawned, "Smooth Rock Falls."

Sterling yawned again. Emily thumped her head against the back of the seat and groaned; "Ugh, this is the worst."

Rex, who had been woken up by the noise, sat up and reached out to pat Emily's shoulder sympathetically. He'd smelled worse. "How are you holding up Sterling?" He asked; he couldn't see her face from this angle but the slump of her shoulders was telling.

Sterling flashed him a smile, though her eyes didn't reflect it. "I'm fine. I pulled over outside Timmins, had my freak out, slept for an hour and got driving again."

She sounded too blasé for someone who had a panic attack on the side of the highway at three AM. Emily flinched; wishing she had been awake for that. Looking at Sterling closely, Emily noticed what looked like dried tear tracks on her friend's cheeks. Sterling's face looked like a marble statue and even more exhausted then she did at first glance. Kix looked more awake then he had been when Sterling mentioned the freak-out part. He had to resist the urge to ask her about it.

"We're still good? How close are we?" Emily asked, looking around and hoping that they could stop, for Sterling's sake. "Ponds, you awake? What does the map say?"

"Don't bother Ponds. We have another hour and a half to go. But I want to make it an hour," Sterling said grimly.

Emily sat up in her seat, alarmed. "Why? Are we in a rush?"

"I was listening to the weather report at around six this morning. There is a massive snow storm blowing in from the North and it'll hit our location in a couple of hours. And I do not want to get caught in it," Sterling explained.

"Oh." At least it wasn't serious. "I get it." Secretly, Emily wished she knew how to drive. That way she could have taken over for Sterling so her friend could get some sleep. Sterling, almost as if she knew what her friend was thinking, said:

"Don't worry about not being able to drive. I can handle this. How did everyone sleep?"

"Car seats aren't comfortable, but I managed fine," Emily answered, reflexively squeezing the Charmander doll tucked under her right arm.

"We've slept through worse than this. Don't worry," Cody said in a matter of fact manner. There was a chorus of agreements from the clones, Waxer and Boil being two of the loudest.

"Yeah... sorry about that. You guys will get a real bed when we get to the cabin."

"Don't apologize," Rex said, while silently wondering what Sterling was apologizing for. The war? How was that her fault...? "It hasn't been a hardship, and it's good to know we're close."

There was a moment of silence before Sterling asked; "Are people hungry? Cause I'm hungry."

"A little," Emily said, her stomach rumbling as if to make a point.

"Well, there's a diner that's open just up ahead. Let's stop there."

"That would be great," Fives said in relief; he was very hungry and so were Jesse and Thire. Waxer looked relieved at the idea of getting out of the bus and getting some food; his legs were badly cramped since they were pinned under a number of dolls and toys.

Sterling turned off the road and pulled into the diner parking lot. She parked the RV with ease, being careful not to double park. After exchanging Razor's winter jacket for her own and donning it, she hopped out of the RV, Emily and the clones mirroring her actions. Everyone shivered against the icy wind, Sterling didn't seem to notice, giving the air of someone who'd lived in these conditions for a while at one point. "Welcome to Northern Ontario, everyone. Let's get inside before we turn into Human icicles."

The clones shuddered collectively and Emily bolted for the door. Sterling, Emily and the clones all rushed inside, breathing audible sighs of relief at the warmth. Sterling huffed as her glasses fogged up. The diner, for the most part, was empty, the waitress looked up from her book and looked surprised at the party but she smiled kindly.

"Birthday party?" The waitress asked

"Yep. Twenty-two please," Sterling said.

The waitress gave a small nod and another warm smile. "We haven't had a group of guests this big in a while. You can pull together the tables at the back."

"Thank you very much," Sterling said gratefully. She led the group to the back of the diner and the helped the clones push tables together and bring chairs over. Once everyone was sitting down, the waitress came over with the menus.

"Are you having a Star Wars themed birthday party?" She asked, eyeing the clones curiously.

"Yeah. Rex here deserved something special; he's been working non-stop lately!" Emily responded with a cheery grin; she'd thought of that reason as soon as she stepped in the door.

"Clone Wars themed then," The waitress affirmed, before handing out the extra menus.

Emily smiled and nodded. Rex looked a little flustered, Sterling took notice and asked gently, "Everything okay Rex?"

Rex wasn't sure what to say. He'd never had a birthday celebration before. None of his brothers had ever had one. Fortunately, Cody answered for him. "We've never uh... huh... had a birthday celebration before." The clone said 'birthday' like it was a word from a foreign language.

Emily clapped her hands together, her eyes shining. "First time for everything then! I'll ask if they have any cake," She said as she got up to follow the waitress, who'd disappeared to converse with the kitchen.

"You do that," Sterling said opening the menu. "Ooh, Belgian waffles with strawberries."

The clones all stared at each other, stammering a little. Did Emily just decide to throw Rex a birthday celebration? What? The closest they had to something like this being done for them was when General Skywalker granted them extra shore leave as a surprise. A few clones poked at their menus like they were expecting them to come alive. Sterling reached over and showed Ponds how to open the menu. Ponds looked sheepish. Emily arrived back a few seconds later.

"Well, the cakes they have are chocolate and vanilla. Got a preference?"

"Chocolate. Please," Rex said after a moment of slightly overwhelmed silence.

"Got it." Emily smiled gently at him before picking up her menu and looking it over. Her brow was furrowed; she was something of a picky eater especially when she was upset, so she was hoping to find something familiar.

After a few minutes, Sterling swept her gaze over the long table and asked the clones; "See anything you guys like?"

"There's ravioli?" Fives asked, remembering the dish from one day on shore leave and how much he liked it.

"If you want that for breakfast," Sterling responded. "I am having the waffles with strawberries."

"I'd like pancakes," Emily announced with a definitive nod, pleased to have located it.

Ponds, Hardcase, Echo and Thire wanted the same as Emily. Razor, Stak, Cody and Waxer wanted the same as Sterling. Emily winced slightly as she did the mental math on the price of the meal so far, but it was still within her capabilities - her bank account hadn't been frozen (yet).

"What's French toast?" Wolffe asked curiously.

"Something good, give it a try," Emily said

"I'll take that," Wolffe decided, with a touch of wonder.

"Are you ready to order?" The Waitress had returned, pen and paper in hand.

"Pretty much," Emily nodded.

In the end, everyone decided on either waffles, pancakes or French toast. Fives was still having the ravioli. Once the menus had been taken away, Sterling stretched with a grunt before standing up. "I need to use the washroom. I'll be back in a minute," Sterling said, her voice a little tense.

"No problem," Emily said as Sterling walked away. "This is the part where we wait."

"For the food or for Sterling to get back?" Hardcase asked

Emily chuckled and explained, "The food. Food always takes a while at restaurants."

"How long does it usually take?" Jesse asked, remembering having to stand in line in the mess hall.

"I haven't really timed it, but the more food, the longer it takes."

Jesse noticed Kix looking in the direction that Sterling had walked in. As a medic, it was his job to make sure everyone was alright, both physically and mentally. And it was obvious to anyone watching that Sterling wasn't okay.

"Hey, where are you?" Jesse asked, in order to bring the matter into the open. It did bother him that Sterling insisted that she could manage when she clearly needed support. Soldiers should never hide their injuries, lest they prove to be their downfall in a later conflict.

"Should I talk to Sterling?" Kix asked, looking at Emily for guidance on how to approach her friend.

"It's worth trying," Emily said, biting her lip.

"You're worried about her too?" Kix asked

Emily nodded, quiet and solemn. "I worry about her. It's something we have in common – we tell people we're alright when we're not."

...

As that conversation was taking place, Sterling was splashing cold water on her face. It was her attempt to wake up fully and partially to remove the crusty, dried tear tracks on her face. She wiped her face with a paper towel and sighed.

"Come on Sterling, get a grip on yourself," She muttered.

She rubbed her face with her hand and let her head fall onto her chest. She felt her chest constrict and her throat close. She could feel the panic attack building in her mind and in her body. She slammed a fist on the wall and grit her teeth, trying to remember the breathing techniques she used to calm down.

"Get a grip Jackson, another panic attack in the same day isn't a good thing. And if I panic again, there's no telling how long it'll last. Just, get a grip."

Sterling sighed, she hated it when this happened. Especially when she needed to be strong. She tugged at the sleeves of the black sweater she wore before composing herself and leaving the bathroom.

...

"So, how long have you and Sterling known each other?" Rex asked curiously.

"A few years now. We met at a support group for people who have our sorts of problems," Emily said. "She's the first friend I had that I can call my best friend."

"What do you mean by your sorts of problems?" Kix asked, hoping to finally get some clear answers. "Are you two sick?"

"Nah, we're not sick Kix. At least, not the kind of sick that can be handled with pills and physical therapy. It's related to the mind. Our brains are just different than everyone else," Sterling said as she dropped into her seat between Waxer and Ponds. She frowned. "Though, there are some people who think people like Emily and me are hopelessly sick and need to be "cured". Load a bull if you ask me."

Emily snorted in agreement. Leave it to Sterling to be as blunt as possible when discussing things like that.

"Yeah... that's not really possible," The brunette said before turning to look at Kix. "To put it as simply as I can... our brains process things differently. Emotions are difficult to handle. Stuff like that."

"Yeah. And it makes us..." Sterling trailed off to think for a minute. "Crazy or freaks to some people. Not everyone on this hunk of rock is very nice."

"Or they just don't understand," Emily pointed out.

"That too," Sterling agreed. "Ignorance leads to fear."

Thire couldn't help but smother a laugh, Sterling sounded just like Yoda when she said that.

"Master Yoda said something to that effect before," Jek said, taking the words right out of his brother's mouth.

"Well, he's not wrong," Sterling said, though her lip twitched upward slightly at the comparison. "Here, people are scared of what they don't understand. There are two types of people on the planet in the face of what they don't understand, those who educate themselves or those who don't bother educating themselves and try and spread their fear to others."

"That, unfortunately, isn't exclusive to this planet," Cody said with a sigh.

"No one's ever tried to... hurt you have they?" Fives asked, concern highlighting his voice

Emily shook her head. "No. But some guy pegged me as "simple" and tried to pick me up on a street corner once." She shuddered at the memory.

Sterling merely looked grim when she spoke. Like she had seen this happen before. "No, Emily and I are "high functioning" and can pass off as "normal" but I do know of instances where people like me and Emily have been killed by people who are afraid of them. It's not uncommon, and the perps aren't aren't random people on the street. Sometimes it's law enforcement officers or family members of the deceased. And it's not just people with mental health issues. Sometimes the victim is someone of a different religion or skin colour or gender or sexual orientation... the list goes on and on. Stuff like that is called hate crimes for a reason."

Rex and Ponds looked appalled. Fives and Jesse looked like they were going to be sick. Thire, Jek and Rys were silently promising to speak with Fox about what regulations they had in place for dealing with people with mental health issues and if there were any laws in place to deal with hate crimes.

"Yeah," Emily looked elsewhere. "The world is a glass half full huh."

"Yeah," Sterling said, before perking up. "Oh, there's our food."

The waitress arrived, carrying everyone's meals. The group started eating happily and at some point, Emily started humming happy birthday. Sterling started singing along in a soft voice. Rex gave a small, happy, yet hesitant smile.

"How old are you Rex?" Emily asked, knowing that he wasn't as old as he looked.

"Fourteen."

Emily glanced at Sterling. It was weird for her to think that these highly disciplined and trained soldiers were younger than her and Sterling. Sterling looked down at the floor, while the clones might look like adults with the advanced ageing, the reality that they were barely in their teens was a humbling thought.

Then Sterling looked up and made the mistake of glancing at the TV mounted on the wall. She went stiff, that feeling of panic hit her like a runaway plane. Her chest constricted again and her mind went blank. The only thing echoing through her head was "no no no no no."

"Oh. Shit," Sterling said, her voice trembling before shaking her head. "Stay calm. Act natural."

"What is it?" Emily asked nervously.

"They know we were at Canada's Wonderland. And our pictures are on TV." Sterling couldn't breathe, there wasn't enough air. Her hands trembled violently, she needed to calm down but couldn't breathe deeply enough. Emily let out a breath;

"We're far away from there. Don't panic."

Emily was trying to get her friend to calm down but it didn't seem to work. Sterling's head jerked in her direction so fast that Emily was shocked her friend didn't hurt her neck.

"Don't freak out?" Sterling asked, her voice sharp. "What if the waitress sees?"

"Poker face," Emily said. "Fake it until we make it."

Sterling's eyes flashed with something like "are you kidding me?" in them. Her grip tightened around her glass of Coke until her entire hand was white. Emily was worried that the glass would shatter due to the force of her friend's grip.

"I'll try," Sterling said, taking a shaky breath. "I'll try."

Emily gently reached out and squeezed Sterling's wrist. The other girl tensed sharply for a moment but then relaxed.

"If anything comes up, let me do the talking," Emily offered seriously. She was calmer than her friend, and she was pretty

"Or me," Cody said, placing his hand on Sterling's arm, just above Emily's.

Sterling nodded, not looking at anyone, before visibly swallowing. "Okay. Let's just finish up, pay and get out,"

Emily nodded in agreement and squeezed Sterling's wrist again. Sterling didn't react, she just picked up her drink, causing Emily and Cody's hands to be removed and drank. The waitress came by with the cake and Sterling ordered another Coke. The waitress nodded, wished Rex a happy birthday with a wink and walked off. Only coming back a few minutes later with Sterling's Coke.

"How many of those have you had?" Kix asked.

"This will be my fifth, I need the caffeine. I hate coffee," Sterling said. "Just a small piece for me please."

Emily nodded and began cutting the cake. Rex getting the first piece. Sterling was trying to keep herself from losing her entire composure, she couldn't show weakness and she definitely couldn't panic. Waxer kept a close eye on Sterling and noticed her hand shaking. He was the only one who heard Sterling whisper softly:

"My anxiety does not define me."

Emily noticing her friend was still on the verge of panic, placed her hand on Sterling's arm and unknowingly sent soothing feeling's via the Force. Sterling seemed to relax, her shoulders loosening. She sighed and leaned heavily on Waxer's side. Waxer gently wrapped his arm around Sterling's shoulders.

"Thanks," Sterling said. No one heard her whisper to herself, "I'm safe. I'm safe."

"We're going to be fine," Emily said with a calm she didn't feel inside.

"I know. Let's just pay and get out of here."

"Yeah."

Emily finished her cake and sat back. Sterling looked around the table and said firmly, "Alright, everyone, go to the bathroom. Once we leave, I'm not stopping until we reach the cabin."

"Yes boss," Fives said teasingly, hoping the levity will help her relax.

Sterling rolled her eyes and shook her head and watched everyone got up and left the table. She rubbed her eyes and stretched, her back was stiff. She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out her iPod, and slipped the headphones over her ears. She let the music play and breathed in time with the slow rhythm of the music. She only opened an eye when she felt a hand resting on her shoulder.

"Hey. Are you managing?" Emily asked with concern.

"Better than earlier, I'll be okay," Sterling said.

The brunette regarded her for a moment before nodding in acceptance. "I'm gonna go pay and the guys and I will meet you back at the RV."

"You got it."

Sterling stood up, slipped on her jacket and walked out the door. Emily made her way to the register and paid. She winced when she noticed her credit card was halfway maxed out. She waited for the clones to come back and when they did, the group cleared out. They all piled into the RV, Sterling already in the driver's seat. She waited until everyone was sitting down and strapped in before starting the vehicle and driving out of the parking lot. Emily didn't comment on the fact that Sterling was driving faster than normal.

"Emily, can you turn on the radio?" Sterling asked

"Sure."

Emily turned on the radio and the opening chords to Living on a Prayer came on. Sterling felt a smile stretch across her face.

"I love this song," Sterling said as she tapped out the beat on the steering wheel.

Emily smiled at her friend before she leaned back in her seat and simply listened to the music. Sterling sang along with several clones joining in. Even though she couldn't sense it, her joy seemed to radiate through the Force as she sang her favourite song.

...

Many miles behind the travellers, Anakin sat up with a start. Obi-Wan looked back at his former apprentice with concern.

"Is everything alright Anakin?"

"Didn't you feel that? I think I know which way to go!"

...

Emily started suddenly, sitting up quickly but dismissed the odd feeling she felt.

"You okay?" Sterling asked, noticing her friend's start.

...

"I felt it Anakin," Obi-Wan said.

"I'll prepare the ship for takeoff," Anakin said.

...

Emily shook her head. "Yeah, just... just had a funny feeling."

Sterling frowned at her friend's admission. At this point, funny feelings weren't to be ignored.

"Another funny feeling? What was this one like?

"Like somebody had seen me," Emily shrugged. "I dunno, it was strange."

"Any idea who saw you?"

...

"Why are we in such a hurry?" Obi-Wan asked as Anakin took off rather quickly.

"You know Ani, he worries," Padmé said.

Obi-Wan smiled at Padmé's words, she had a point. Ahsoka came onto the deck, she was frowning.

"Masters. Senator. We have a bit of a problem."

"What is it Snips?"

"The scanners are picking up a massive storm heading this way. From what I can tell, there will be strong winds and the visibility will be almost zero."

"Then we'll have to travel above the clouds," Anakin said distractedly, not wanting to be deterred.

"We'll have to be careful, this world has a relatively primitive form of air travel that flies above the clouds. We might crash if we aren't careful," Ahsoka pointed out.

"Hey, you're talking to the best pilot around!"

"With a habit of crashing your ships on landing," Ahsoka said with an eye roll.

Anakin shot Ahsoka an injured look. Obi-Wan managed to smother a laugh but couldn't hide his smile.

"She has a point Anakin," Obi-Wan said mildly.

"Master, not you too," Anakin replied in exasperation. Inside, he couldn't help but think, 'doesn't he have any faith in me?'

...

Emily giggled suddenly but was unsure why. Sterling shot her friend an odd look.

"Did something funny happen?" Sterling asked.

"I just thought of a joke, that's all."

"Okay then," Sterling shrugged and put a little more pressure on the gas pedal.

Snowflakes were falling lightly from the sky by that time. Sterling suddenly turned on the blinkers and guided the RV off the highway and onto a smaller road. After a little while on the smaller road, she turned the RV onto a snow-covered driveway. She hummed Winterspell under her breath as she drove. Eventually, a large wood cabin with two stories and a large garage came into view. Sterling hadn't been kidding, this place was huge, there was definitely going to be big enough for everyone.

"We're here," Sterling said as she stopped the RV. "I'll get the RV into the garage once everyone gets out and gets inside."

"Do you have keys to this place or do we need to break in?" Fives asked

"No lock. Cabin in the woods in literally; the middle of nowhere with two nearly ghosts towns nearly half an hour to an hour away, who's gonna come here?" Sterling asked

"Bears?" Emily suggested semi-seriously.

"In the winter?" Sterling asked.

"Point. But hey, some animals have been acting really weird lately..."

"It looks very humble," Rex said, regarding the wooden cabin.

"Please tell me there are electrical outlets." Sterling nodded. "Thank God, my computer was running low on battery," Emily said with relief, putting her computer back in her bag which she zipped shut. She had started typing up the story she had discussed the previous day, with the clones offering suggestions for opening lines or ideas whenever she got stuck.

"It's got running water and electricity and a large fireplace in the living room and enough beds for everyone. Just like I remember," Sterling said. "Come on, let's get everything inside before it storms."

"Yeah," Emily affirmed, giving her legs a stretch and grabbing the Zorua doll with her teeth, her arms being full of her bag and two other plushes. "Everyone out!"

Everyone jumped out of the RV, Sterling heading over the garage and went inside to open the doors. Once the doors were open, she jumped back into the RV and drove it into the garage. Once that was done, she hopped out and pulled open the back door of the RV and started pulling bags out.

"I picked up some groceries while we were in Timmins. I figured we'd need things," Sterling said

"Good thinking," Emily said, having put the first round of toys and articles inside while her friend was parking their stolen RV. "Let me help – oh, thanks, Waxer, Boil."

"No problem Emily," Waxer said as he and Boil grabbed several bags that Emily had been gearing up to move alone. Boil winked at the girl, sliding one over his shoulder before heading toward the door.

"Where do you want everything Sterling?" Cody asked, the slight professional lit back in his voice now that they had reached their destination. He wanted to make sure they could hunker down for a while.

"The kitchen right?" Emily asked, remembering a short talk they had shared before she had fallen asleep on the road.

"Yeah, follow me," Sterling said with a faint nod. She took the lead and led everyone inside the cabin, only pausing to close the garage door. She indicated to the kitchen and passed the bags she was carrying to Hardcase. "Put everything in there. I'll put the fire on." And with that, she went out the back door and back outside.

Emily showed Waxer, Boil and Hardcase where to put everything away. Emily discovered that Sterling had bought chocolate, graham crackers and marshmallows along with cereals, pasta, and other stuff as well and baking supplies. There was also non-edible stuff inside the bags as well. Emily hoped Sterling hadn't stolen anything. She was a little surprised to find a receipt in the last bag. Paid with cash. She'd have to ask about that.

The back door opened and closed as Sterling kicked it closed. She had several logs in her arms and a dusting of snow rested on the logs and Sterling's shoulders, in her dark hair, and stuck to her eyelashes. She shook her head and let out a huff of air.

"Looks like we got here just in time," Sterling said. "Once I get the fire going, some of you can go find pillows, blankets, and sheets while the rest of you can find the I bought for smores and bring it all to the living room."

"We'll handle the blankets," Cody said.

Emily licked her lips, that explained the large marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate. "Smores sound awesome right about now," She said with some happiness. S'mores brought back memories of a cottage, of her younger days where card games and family laughter filled a small house rather like this when everyone sat down to watch movies together after a day of travelling across a lake and capturing butterflies in nets.

"What are smores?" Jesse asked, blinking.

"You'll see," Emily said with a grin.

"What goes into smores?" Boil asked, rooting through the groceries that still hadn't been put away.

"Marshmallows and chocolate. We'll show you how it's done," Emily said, taking the packages off the counter.

"That doesn't sound healthy but it sounds really good," Kix admitted.

"Why does Sterling want pillows, blankets and sheets?" Wolffe asked, as the clones and the girl finally dealt with the groceries; most of the other baggage was in the living room already. Emily's backpack was propped up against the wall in that room next to a socket, where the small crimson red laptop was plugged into the wall and a stack of Pokemon dolls provided a replacement pillow.

"What else are you going to sleep on silly?" Emily responded with a warm giggle.

"I get that, but why does she want them in the living room though?" Wolffe asked

"For storytelling," Emily smiled. "I think we're pretty good at that."

"Yeah, and I want to make a fort out of the bedding. I've been staying awake for two hours and forty-five minutes worth of sleep to keep me going, I do not feel like dealing with uncooperative fitted sheets!" Sterling's voice shouted from the living room.

"That too," Emily chuckled.

There was a sound of furniture being pushed around and Sterling came out from the living room, the sleeves of her sweater pushed up to the elbow. She leaned on the wall and said: "Meet me in the living room when you're done."

"No problem," Emily nodded, brandishing the smores ingredients. "I'll get the fire pokers for toasting."

"Come on guys, I'll show you how to build a fort," Sterling said, addressing the clones.

She was being followed closely by Rex, Cody, Stak and Waxer; all of whom had their arms full of bedding. They clones watched her curiously as Sterling got to work. Her movements were fast and efficient as she worked. Emily carried out the supplies and watched her friend with nostalgia in her eyes. She straightened up and looked at her handiwork proudly.

"I haven't done this in years," Sterling said.

"Reminds me of when I'd pull the beds out at my grandma's cottage," Emily murmured wistfully.

"You know, I can't help but wonder what our families are up too... I just realized today that Christmas isn't that far off," Sterling said.

The moment she finished her sentence, Sterling regretted her words instantly. She mentally cursed at herself, she had a tendency to speak without thinking. Emily clammed up, shrugged and disappeared into the kitchen. This would be the very first Christmas she spent without her family; without their presence and their promises for the new year. She had been trying not to think about it.

"Ah dammit, I said too much," Sterling muttered, knowing right away why Emily was upset.

She followed Emily into the kitchen, finding her friend staring out the window at the swirling snow. Sterling stood just behind Emily, not touching her, head down in an apologetic motion.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have mentioned that," Sterling said in a quiet voice.

It wasn't one Emily was familiar with at all. She could tell her friend was apologetic. Emily shook her head, turned around and placed a hand on Sterling's shoulder.

"It's fine. Forget about it. I'll be fine," Emily said

"I'm still sorry," Sterling said with a nod.

Emily nodded at that. She couldn't really say anything. Her unhappiness radiated through the Force.

"Let's just... go and get those smores. I need one. Or three," Emily said, visible effort to be cheerful again in her voice.

"Yeah; Let's show these guys how to do it. Well, if Fives hasn't eaten all the marshmallows," Sterling said in a joking tone.

Emily snickered. This time it was a bit more genuine. "A very real problem."

The duo returned to the living room and sat down and began to instruct the clones on the art of making the perfect smore.

...

Meanwhile, the ship the Jedi and the Senator were currently sitting on had been forced to land when conditions got worse. Ahsoka looked up from the data pad she was looking at and said softly:

"She's sad."

Anakin winced and nodded. "I felt it. But it's getting stronger... that means we're getting closer."

"But the storm is getting worse. I'm glad we landed, I wouldn't feel safe flying in this weather," Padmé said, looking out the viewport.

"How far away are we from them Anakin?" Obi-Wan asked, hands behind his back as he gazed into the storm. Somehow he felt this wouldn't be the last time he saw this sort of weather; his intuition rarely failed him.

"Mid-way, I'd say. Damn this weather," Anakin muttered

"We'll just have to wait it out," Padmé said, before gently asking her beloved; "How are your men?"

"They seem fine, I think they're worried about those girls," Anakin said.

"Is everything alright with the girls?" Padmé asked, blinking and remembering Ash's request of them.

"They're alright physically," Ahsoka said.

"What about mentally?" Obi-Wan asked, catching the implied problem immediately. "How are they mentally?"

"Tired. Scared. And very sad," Ahsoka said, her brow furrowed as she focused on the distant ripples of the Force.

"Sad?" Padmé asked with concern.

"They miss their families Padmé. I can feel Kix's concern for the younger of the two girls from here," Ahsoka said.

"I don't like the sound of that," Anakin said. For a moment, an ugly flashback to the last time he saw his mother - the only family he had, sans Obi-Wan - alive. He quickly shook his head to clear it.

"The younger girl was the one in charge of the transport since the older girl doesn't seem to know how to do it. The younger one didn't get a lot of rest either. And the older girl is stressed because she lied to her parents to help the clones, and now she fears she's lost their affection," Ahsoka said.

"Why would the older girl lie to her parents about the clones? They might have been able to help." Padmé said in confusion.

"I would need to get closer. All I feel now is her dread and sorrow."

"I hope we find those girls soon," Padmé said.

"We will," Obi-Wan promised.

...

Back in the cabin; Fives was lying on his back with her head in Echo's lap groaning.

"Why did I eat so many smores?" Fives asked to no one in particular.

Emily snickered slightly from her position between Stak and Cody. She was hardly one to pass judgment since she had four smores. Echo chuckled and ran a hand through Fives' hair.

"Oh Fives, you are gonna have one upset stomach because of your lack of self-restraint," Echo teased.

"Good thing I didn't make a cake. We wouldn't have gotten to have any of it," Emily said

Echo snorted and shook his head.

"Good thing, Fives would have eaten it before it finished cooling off," Echo said

Emily laughed at the thought, which made Rex and Waxer relax a bit. She seemed to have recovered from her bought of sorrow after sharing the treats. "That would have been bad," She chuckled.

"Shh! Sterling's sleeping," Waxer hissed.

"Sorry," Emily whispered, glancing down at her friend. Sterling seemed to be dead to the world in that moment, finally allowed to get some real rest. "I'm glad she's finally sleeping. I was starting to worry I'd let her work for too long."

"It's okay. To be honest, I doubt she'll be waking up anything soon," Waxer said quietly.

"Let's hope so," Ponds agreed.

"Me too," Kix said nodding. "I wouldn't move if I were you Waxer."

Sterling twitched in her sleep. She had fallen asleep with her head in Waxer's lap. Waxer was running his hand through Sterling's short brown hair. Boil exchanged a fond look with Waxer as he whispered; "She's out like a light."

"Mm-hmm. Hey, tell me about your travels. Anything, I'd like to listen," Emily said, leaning back against the Zorua doll. Technically she knew the highlights of the clone wars, but there was a lot that she could only imagine, and she would like to know more.

"Sure, you want a war story or a leave story?" Boil asked; he'd been rather hoping that she would ask.

"Either. Both."

"Hey Wolffe, tell her about the time you nearly ended up getting married to Warthog," Boil said with a sly grin

Emily clapped and said with an innocent smile, "Yes please."

Sinker, Boost, and Comet all burst out laughing. Wolffe groaned and Warthog blushed a bright scarlet and muttered:

"I should never have told Crys."

"Okay, this was a few months ago actually. We were on a mercy mission, just helping rebuild. Anyway, on the last night, we were there, the villagers through a "thank you" banquet for us. Anyway, we were eating and enjoying ourselves when Warthog comes by with a good looking drink. I ask for a sip, he says yes, I take a drink and pass the glass back. What neither of us realized at the time was that it was a wedding custom," Wolffe said

"That sounds like something that should be mentioned on the customs papers."

"Well, the village elder said that they weren't expecting a wedding to take place. Comet asked them what they meant and they said that they weren't expecting me and Warthog to get married," Wolffe said

"Oh my God, what happened next?"

"Warthog and I were in shock and rather confused. Comet was trying to figure out how we ended up married. Meanwhile, Sinker and Boost were being annoying di'kuts," Wolffe said glaring at the mentioned clones.

"Di'kut?" Emily asked, blinking.

"It means idiot," Wolffe explained. "Anyway, turns out Warthog and I drank River Rose. Which is drank by a couple during their wedding ceremony."

"Lord. How'd you get out of that?"

"Well, we managed to convince the village elder that neither Warthog nor I were interested in each other in that fashion. We were... uninformed about that tradition. It worked with the village elder. And we got out of it, though Sinker and Boost weren't about to let us forget," Wolffe said.

"They thought it was funny. I didn't think so, I thought it was embarrassing," Warthog groaned.

"It didn't help that General Koon thought it was funny either. He might not have shown it but he definitely thought it was funny," Wolffe sighed.

"Oh dear. Sounds like a long day." Emily said sympathetically.

"It was," Wolffe and Warthog said simultaneously, causing the brunette to giggle. There was a small ripple of smiles and small chuckles before she asked, "Have you ever had a mission go smoothly?"

Several clones started laughing.

"A smooth mission? What's that?" Ponds asked with an amused smile.

"I speak for all of us when I say that none of us have ever had a "smooth" mission," Stak said.

"The Separatists always seem to know what we're doing. Makes our jobs a lot harder," Razor said.

"Heh... "may you live in interesting times" indeed..." Briefly, the name 'Sidious' was on the tip of Emily's tongue, but she swallowed it. That was a revelation she was afraid to explain. "Tell me another story."

"Well, there was the time the Separatists tried to make a serum that acted like a sedative and a Force suppressor. Let's just say it didn't go so well," Kix said

Unseen by Emily, both Ponds and Cody tensed. Kix wasn't going to tell THAT story, was he?

"Define didn't go well?" Emily asked, her brain conjuring the Zillo Beast, Darth Maul and Boba Fett for varying reasons that missions and events 'didn't end well'.

"It acted more as an aphrodisiac then anything else," Kix said, a tinge of green in his expression as she remembered.

Yep, he was telling that one. Cody and Ponds exchanged horrified looks. Emily briefly turned red, being very inexperienced in such matters outside of her beloved fiction. "Oh God..." She stuttered, unsure if she was mortified or amused.

"Do you wanna know who got hit?" Kix asked

"Possibly against my better judgment...who?"

"General Kenobi and General Windu."

Emily fell over onto her side, both hands covering her mouth. There was a muffled repetition of "oh my God" escaping her fingers. Ponds was attempting to keep his composure while Cody just hoped the ground would swallow him whole.

"And the thing about that cocktail is that it makes you want to have sex with the first person you see. Guess who the first people the Generals saw?"

She might very well regret asking this... "W-who?"

"Well, General Kenobi saw Cody first and General Windu saw Ponds..."

Emily chocked and looked at Cody and Ponds for confirmation. Ponds just nodded - admirably straight-faced all things considered - and considering Cody was as red as the paint on Thire's armour, it was as good as given for Emily. She stared at the Commanders for a second and then burst out into helpless laughter. Then she apologized. And then laughed some more.

"I'll let you guess what happened next," Kix said dryly

"Oh my God, oh God... s-sorry Cody, Ponds, God I shouldn't be laughing but I c-can't stop!"

"I am going to kill you for this Kix," Cody growled as Emily and multiple clones roared with laughter.

"Wait a minute, you and General Windu had sex?" Stak asked incredulously.

Emily's laughter rose to something close to a shriek, the noise not just amusement but embarrassment on Cody's behalf, causing Sterling to twitch in her sleep. Waxer glowered at her. The brunette meekly waved an apology as she struggled to get her breathing under control.

"I had no idea General Kenobi was such a screamer until that day," Kix said.

"Yes, Stak. We had sex," Ponds sighed, his tone making it clear he'd explained this way too many times.

" _Oh dear God, how am I going to look at either of those Jedi with a straight face ever again?"_ Emily thought to herself.

"Kix, if you value your existence, you will stop talking right now!" Cody growled.

Emily finally regained her equilibrium and offered the clone an out. "What other stories are there, Cody?"

Cody gave her a thankful look. "Well, there was the time Waxer and Boil found an orphan Twi'lek girl while on a campaign."

"Oh? How nice." Emily said softly, she remembered that episode well.

"Yeah, Numa was a cutie, wasn't she Boil?" Waxer asked

Emily smiled. "Numa huh? Cute name."

"She is at that," Boil said.

"She saved our lives too. She also helped free her village. She is a brave little girl," Boil said.

"That is a great story," Emily said, sifting so she was leaning against the doll again.

"It is a good one. Boil and I were... well... thinking of taking her in if we make it through the war," Waxer said.

Both he and Boil hoped they'd make it through the war. Even though it wasn't very likely, it was still good to hold onto that hope.

"Good idea," Emily said, having very narrowly kept herself from flinching. Order 66 was stuck in her throat.

"You tell stories, don't you Emily?" Rex asked, unknowingly rerouting the discussion away from that topic.

Emily started and blinked. "Uh, yeah – I mean, sort of, I mostly type them. I haven't finished writing anything so I haven't published yet..."

"Can you tell us another one of your stories?" Cody asked, recalling his curiosity about her story on the road.

"Um... okay. So... at one point in time, there was a girl who was all alone in the world..." Emily said, taking on her "storytellers voice" again. The clones rearranged themselves so they were sitting in a circle around her.

"Why was she alone?" Ponds asked

"Her parents either died or abandoned her. She doesn't know. She's lived in the orphanage all her life. She grew up with no family and a strange shadow... a feeling that something was watching her, all her life, whenever she was at her lowest." Emily explained with her eyes closed. There was a soft sadness in her voice as she said this.

"A shadow?" Razor asked that could mean anything...

"What kind of shadow?" Stak finished the question for his comrade.

"She knew it not for a long time, but it was a malevolent demon that sought to prey on her sorrows until she unlocked special powers, so it could transform her into a conduit for it's evil. It was a monster with no name. The seven that it spoke to merely called it Nightmare. For that was what it was, what it inflicted on all who it despised... and it hated humanity."

"Scary," Boil said with a shudder. It sounded almost like a malevolent Force ghost.

Emily continued in a solemn voice: "This girl was the last of his planned victims. There were six that it had enthralled, twisted into monsters."

"Who were those kids?" Rex asked

"Young children who were ostracized. Tormented until the gave in to hatred and despair."

"Oh Gods, those poor kids," Echo said

"What happens to them?" Kix asked

"Who were these kids?" Fives asked

Emily gave them a wry look; they were asking questions faster than she could tell the story! Patiently she explained, "They transformed. A boy who was once gentle and sensitive became Wrath. A girl who was passed over for her sister became Envy. A boy who came to hate humanity became Sloth. A girl who wilted under the spotlight became Lust. A girl who died in a camp became Gluttony."

"What about the orphan girl? What does she become?" Boost asked

Emily closed her eyes again. "She... does something the Nightmare does not anticipate. She forgives. While she did not transform, she had the right to be Pride."

"What do you mean by she forgives?" Thire asked

"She forgives the girls at school who bully her, her parents for not being around, the prospective parents who passed her over. She chooses to save a life, and unlocks her powers in a way incompatible with Nightmare's foul taint."

"What kind of power?" Comet asked

"Barriers, light-based defences and Charisma. Purely defensive."

"Wow." Boil said.

"Indeed, this sets her on the path to confront the other six, the ones the Nightmare stole."

"Does she manage to help them?" Kix asked

"Indeed. One by one she reaches and heals them, chasing Nightmare from all it's living hosts."

"She...cures them?" Waxer asked, surprised. As little as he knew about the Force, he'd never known it to 'purify' anything.

"She comforts them, supports them, allows them to regain their humanity. In the end, the Nightmare uses its dark power to attempt to possess her by force, and the other six must rescue her as she rescued them."

"That is an impressive feat," Cody said, awed.

"The banish Nightmare together." Emily opened her eyes again. "Eventually. I think that any story, no matter how tragic, can be told with a smile if it has a happy ending.

"What would the girl have become had she not resisted against the Nightmare?" Ponds asked curiously.

"Pride," Emily answered seriously. The most powerful of the conduits, and Nightmare's intended vessel. She would have turned Earth into Purgatory."

"What's Purgatory?" Hardcase asked.

"A place between Heaven and Hell... a waiting place... in some texts, souls travel through it in penance for lesser sins before ascending to Heaven."

"Heaven?" Jesse asked

"Hell?" Rys asked

Emily blinked, before sitting back and wondering what to say. She'd never had to explain the basics of her religion to someone else since everyone knew it. How best to put it? "Heaven is where the souls of good people go after they die. And Hell is a place of eternal punishment for those who did evil and never repented it."

"Oh. Wouldn't want to end up in Hell," Wolffe said.

"You wouldn't go there, don't worry."

"How do you know?" Waxer asked

"Because you're all good people. No one who helps a lost little girl out of the kindness of their hearts is going to Hell."

Waxer smiled at Emily's words. Sterling twitched in her sleep and muttered something about thistle men. Emily yawned massively and shook her head, grabbing the glass next to her and finishing the water held within. "Whew."

"You should get some sleep. You look exhausted," Rex said.

Emily gave a weak but happy smile."Okay... thank you... for listening."

Emily flopped down onto the pillows on the floor and curled up in them. Rex gently placed a blanket over her shoulders and ruffled her hair.

"Sleep well Emily," he whispered

"What happens when we have to leave?" Waxer asked suddenly

The clones all looked at each other, that was a good question.

"They'll be in trouble with the law, with their families..." Hardcase said

"Should we... take them with us?" Boil asked

"Then they'd be separated from their families permanently. Emily likely wouldn't enjoy that," Fives argued. The brunette talked about her family a lot; about the brother who annoyed her, the parents who wouldn't let her fall down and give up on herself, the cousins she didn't get to see often but loved nonetheless. She wouldn't want to leave them permanently.

"We can't just leave them here to get in trouble..."Hardcase argued back.

"We'll figure something out," Rex said firmly.

"Like what?" Fives asked, wondering what they could possibly do.

"I don't know," Rex growled in frustration." The Generals would. I hope they arrive soon."

"Would the Generals even let us take them with us?" Cody asked

"You know General Skywalker, he'll want to do right by them," Rex said with unquestioning faith in his leader's character.

"I hope so. These two have been so..." Echo trailed off

"They've been good to us," Hardcase said.

"Yeah," Cody agreed

"I just wonder why..." Waxer started before Fives interrupted:

"I think it really is "just because". Because they thought it would be the right thing to do."

"I get the feeling that they weren't... happy," Ponds said.

"I think they were more lonely than unhappy Ponds," Stak pointed out.

"I agree," Cody said

"They are so brave. And far too kind. I can't help but wonder why they trusted us... we only met a few days ago," Razor questioned

"I think that's a question for tomorrow," Rex said

"I concur with..." Cody yawned, "Captain Rex."

"Maybe we should make them breakfast tomorrow morning. As a thank you," Jesse said.

"I like that idea," Ponds said

"Yeah... for now, we should all get some rest. It shouldn't be hard to wake up before them," Rex said.

"With you there Captain," Echo said.

"Aye," Hardcase murmured.

One by one, the clones drifted off as the storm raged on outside.

 **And that is that. I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. Sorry I was late, exams were tough this time around. A big thank you to my best friend TheGirlWithFarTooManyIdeas for her help with dialogue and some scene bits. Read, like, review, and I'll see you all next time. Later, Dana.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Dana: I don't own Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Warning, this chapter deals with a mental assault and Sidious being a creep.**

 **Chapter 6**

Rex slowly blinked his eyes open. It was relatively early from what he could tell as it was still dark out. The last remains of the fire cast an orange glow throughout the room. He sat up and looked around at his sleeping brothers. Fives and Echo were curled up around each other, Boil was spooning Waxer, Emily was curled into a ball around her Charmander doll between Cody and Stak and everyone else was either cuddling someone or curled up around a pillow. They all seemed so peaceful in that moment.

Rex stretched with a low grunt, remembering the "mission" he and the others were going to undertake that morning. He reached out and shook Echo's shoulders saying:

"Wake up. We're making breakfast today."

Echo raised his head and yawned, about to make a familiar complaint about early hours when a fuzzy memory from the previous day stopped him. "Eh? Oh, right," He murmured; they had decided to make breakfast...He reached over and shook Hardcase's shoulder. "Come on, wake up," He told his squadmate in a low voice

"Go away. Sleeping," Hardcase grunted

"Didn't we agree we'd make breakfast for the girls?" Echo asked patiently.

"Oh. Right," Hardcase said abruptly, barely remembering to keep his voice low. He and Echo then began attempting to wake up Fives.

Rex kicked Cody in the shins saying; "Cody. Wake up."

"I'm up. I'm up," Cody grunted, annoyed, as he hauled himself to his feet.

Ponds, who had been woken up by the noise stretched and shook his head to clear the last dredges of sleep from his mind. Boil sat up and looked at Waxer and suppressed a snort."I don't think Waxer's going anywhere."

Waxer looked down at his predicament, Sterling had both her arms wrapped around his waist and had her head on his chest. There was no way for Waxer to move away without dislodging Sterling and causing her to wake up and her waking up would ruin the surprise. Wolffe snickered, causing Waxer to scowl at him.

"Razor, Stak, get up," Ponds said, refraining from kicking either of his companions - they were already conditioned to jump into action when he used a certain tone of voice.

"Yes boss," Razor muttered. Stak got to his feet slowly considering he fell asleep near Emily. She murmured and shifted a bit at the commotion but didn't wake up. It was her sleeping face that made him notice the difference between when she was relaxed, and when she was worried - her face had softened, lost some of its stress lines.

"I think it best if we don't make too much noise, I don't want to wake either of them up," Stak said. He found that he wanted Emily to be able to stay that way for as long as possible.

"Right. What are we making for them by the way?" Razor asked, frowning as he tried to remember.

"Pancakes," Jesse whispered.

"Should be easy enough," Fives said. That was what Sterling and Emily had made for them on the first day of their arrival on this strange world Earth.

Once all the clones were awake, they made their way into the kitchen. Boil flipped on the light, remembering where the light-switch was due to Sterling pointing it out when they went inside the cabin for the first time. Wolffe sat down in one of the chairs at the table and asked, "Do any of us know the recipe for pancakes?"

Ponds gestured at the shelves with several books on them. He assumed they were cookbooks from the titles. He remembered pulling them out of the bags the previous evening.

"There's probably a recipe in one of those books," Ponds said.

"Come on," Jesse urged, glancing at the doorway. It seemed neither girl was an early riser naturally. Plus, Sterling was likely still somewhat strung out from her driving marathon.

The clones began pulling the cookbooks off the shelves and began flipping through them. Eventually, Ponds struck gold. "Found one." He announced.

"What's it call for?" Hardcase asked, trying to read over the other clone's shoulder.

"Flour, baking powder, an egg, salt, sugar, and milk," Ponds listed.

Razor and Hardcase went around and gathered the ingredients and laid them out on the countertop. Stak grabbed a mixing bowl and put it beside the ingredients. Fives took the recipe from Ponds and placed it on the countertop.

"This seems pretty easy," Kix said as he read the recipe over Fives' shoulder.

"Let's not tempt fate Kix. It says here that we need to whisk the egg first..."

"What the heck is a whisk?" Echo asked, looking slightly baffled. He'd never had to make food before; he'd always been either stuck with provisions or provided for in the mess hall. In fact, out of all the clones here, only Rex and Cody had any experience cooking.

Boil grabbed the correct item off the wall. "I got it covered."

"Thanks, Boil."

"No problem Echo."

Thire cracked the egg on the side of the bowl, remembering how Sterling did it. Echo did the whisking until the egg had been thoroughly beaten.

"What next Fives?" Boost asked.

It was good that they'd started with a fairly easy recipe. Fives read off the instructions in a hushed voice, while Cody and Rex put the ingredients together as they were required. Eventually, everything was mixed together and the batter ready.

"That all the ingredients Fives?" Sinker asked

"That's what it says. Did you grease the pan?" Fives asked

"Yep."

"How should we put the batter in? Do we pour the whole bowl in?" Comet asked, being blocked from the cookbook and not remembering exactly how Sterling had done it.

"Not all at once! A bit at a time," Fives said, slightly exasperated. They didn't have a pan large enough for a single pancake of that size!

"Boil could you find a... ladle I think it's called?" Echo asked, squinting at the small print again.

Boil grabbed one after two missed tries and passed it to Echo.

"Here you go."

"Thank you. How many do you think we should put in?" Fives asked.

Kix took the ladle, scooped out some batter and poured it into the pan. "I think there's room for one or two at a time." He decided.

"You're in charge of that Kix," Fives said. Rex nodded.

"Understood." The medic murmured, carefully adding the second spoonful of batter. The two pancakes nearly fused, but they were precisely the right size in the end. Leave it to Kix to get the exact amount of anything just perfect.

"Random question here, can any of the Generals cook?" Echo asked, wondering on the matter for the first time.

"I'm not sure, I think General Koon can cook," Warthog said with a shrug. "Haven't seen him in action, but a few people have talked..."

"I've been told to avoid General Yoda's cooking," Thire said. Boil and Waxer exchanged surprised looks at the image of Yoda cooking.

"General Windu can cook, he's not half bad either," Ponds said, Stak and Razor nodded behind him.

"General Kenobi can cook but he's a better baker," Cody said.

Rex chuckled suddenly. When all of the clones looked strangely at him - Rex was known to be straight-faced and solemn ninety percent of the time - he explained, "General Skywalker, from what I understand, was banned from the kitchen after accidentally setting it on fire,"

"How did that happen?" Cody asked, lip quirking.

"I believe it was related to a dare," Rex said.

"Oh no," Cody facepalmed. It said something that even the noble Jedi order was not immune to such silly things, despite all the wisdom of the ages that they projected whenever they were in public.

"What?" Ponds asked

"According to Rex, General Skywalker was banned from the kitchen because he set it on fire. After he was dared to cook," Cody explained.

Ponds thought about that for a moment and then snickered.

"So what happened?" Hardcase demanded. "Details Rex details."

"Well, what I heard was that he set the oven to the wrong temperature; and that was only the beginning," Rex said.

"Oh Gods, dare I ask what happened next?" Echo asked, enthralled.

"Well, I've heard so many versions of this story that I'm not sure which one is the correct version. But I do know there was a bottle of oil and suddenly, there was fire," Rex said, shaking his head.

The gathered clones all roared with laughter as Rex nodded grimly. In the other room, Emily yawned and blinked open her eyes. Sterling twitched in her sleep but didn't wake up. Waxer looked up from the book he was reading; it was one of Sterling that she had brought along with her.

"Morning Emily," He said.

Emily rolled over and blinked lethargically at him. "Hey, Waxer... what's so funny?" She asked, her words slurring slightly.

"I'm not sure... I haven't been able to move," Waxer joked as he indicated to the sleeping teenager who was sprawled out on top of him.

Emily looked around and propped herself up on her elbows. Something was missing here... "Where is everyone?"

"Kitchen," Waxer said before Sterling muttered something about oracles. "Man Sterling is a heavy sleeper."

"Yes, she is..." Emily shrugged and reached out to her computer. She'd had a strange dream, again, and she was feeling the urge to write it down if doing so would somehow compel it to make sense. "You got to sleep too; right?"

"Yeah, I drifted off pretty quickly. Slept well too. How about yourself? How did you sleep?"

"I managed. Had strange dreams, but I managed fine." She dragged her computer over to where she was resting and opened another word document. "Ugh, low disk space again? Darn..."

"Strange dreams?" Waxer asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

Emily shrugged as she began typing, brown bangs falling in her face before being blown aside again. "Nothing that makes sense. Just jumbled images and sounds. Maybe it's like the cheesecake skyscraper dream."

"Cheesecake skyscraper?" Waxer smiled slightly; he'd had dreams of that sort before. They were preferable to the nightmares.

"Those are dreams for you." The brunette responded.

"True."

At that moment, Boil wandered into the living room. "Pancakes are ready... oh, good morning Emily."

"Pancakes?" Emily asked, surprised, temporarily forgetting her work and the dream.

"Yeah... we cooked breakfast... as a thank you for everything you and Sterling did for us..." Boil said, his voice held a nervous tone.

"Oh...I..." Emily swallowed over a small lump in her throat; "Thank you." She closed her computer, got up, and trotted into the kitchen.

"Should we wake up Sterling?" Boil asked, looking down at the younger teenager. "She might still be pretty tired from driving."

"She needs to eat," Waxer answered. He then gently shook Sterling's shoulders. Hazel eyes blinked open and looked up at him.

"Morning. Breakfast is ready," Waxer said.

"Did I fall asleep on you?" Sterling asked, blushing as she realized where she was.

"Yes, but don't worry about it. I hardly noticed because someone's moustache was constantly tickling my neck all night," Waxer said sending a mock glare in Boil's direction.

"Not my fault your neck is is so damn ticklish," Boil retorted.

"I'm not the one with the moustache Boil, you are."

"Oh yeah, what do you call that?"

"A goatee."

"That's a soul patch."

"It's still a goatee you di'kut."

"Love you too cyare."

Sterling chuckled at the exchange. She pawed at the ground around her for a moment before frowning slightly, "Where are my glasses?"

"Here," Boil passed them to her. He'd picked them up upon waking so none of his brothers would step on them by accident.

"Thanks," Sterling said as she put them on.

"C'mon, pancakes taste better warm," Waxer said.

"Pancakes? Where?"

"In the kitchen," Waxer chuckled at her enthusiasm.

"Who made them?"

"Rex and the others?"

"Why?"

"Why not?" Waxer smiled at her. "Now come on, Emily's already gone ahead."

"Save some for me!" Sterling ran ahead to catch up with Emily as Waxer and Boil chuckled, following her at a slower speed. When Sterling got to the kitchen, she tried to stop running but hardwood floors, socks, high speed and Newton's first law of motion don't mix. Instead of stopping, Sterling kept going as her socked feet slid on the floor and ended up crashing into the wall with a loud thud.

"Ow!"

Waxer and Boil went to help Sterling to her feet. The brunette teenager shook her head and rubbed her nose.

"You alright?" Waxer asked

"Yeah. It's nothing serious. I forgot about Newton's first law of motion," Sterling said.

"What's Newton's first law of motion?" Boil asked

"Physics. It states that an object in motion will continue to remain in motion unless stopped by an unmovable object," Sterling explained.

As Sterling finished her sentence, Emily's voice filtered out from the kitchen: "It's really good! Thank you all again."

"There had better be some left for me, damn it," Sterling muttered as she strode into the kitchen.

"I can't eat them all myself," Emily said, teasing her friend a little.

Sterling rolled her eyes and sat down in a chair, taking a plate and placing a pancake on it. There was a small bruise blooming between her eyebrows. She grinned, the pancakes were good, the boys were good chefs.

"This is really good, my compliments to the chefs," Sterling said beaming.

"Thank you," Kix said. He felt himself swell with pride. He had never really had the chance to explore possible talents and to have someone tell him that he had done really well was a really nice feeling. Sterling flashed him a crooked grin.

Once everyone had finished eating and cleaned up the kitchen. Sterling looked down at her clothes, they were wrinkled as she had been wearing them for two days. "I'm gonna get changed and brush my teeth. Then we can figure out what we want to do today."

"I think I'll do that too, where's the bathroom?" Emily asked, looking slightly pained.

"First-floor bathroom down the hall, second door to your left, second-floor bathroom, up the stairs, first door on the right," Sterling said.

Then she stood up and left the room. She quickly gathered her clothes, a pair of jeans, socks, a blue shirt and a black sweater. A different one than the one she was wearing. Emily did the same and headed down the hall to the bathroom. After a few minutes, Kix stood up, he was going to talk with Sterling, the way she had acted yesterday morning still echoed through his mind. He walked up the stairs and found the first door on his right. It was open halfway and he peeked in, Sterling was standing over a sink brushing her teeth.

"Mostly void, partially stars?" Kix asked as he read the writing on her sweater.

"Night Vale. It's a podcast I like, I can let you listen to an episode if you want," Sterling offered.

"I'd like that thanks," Kix said with a smile. The most they'd been introduced to Earth culture had been the Wonderland and their music. It would be interesting to hear the creative voices of the world seemingly devoid of the Force.

There was silence, the medic wasn't entirely sure how to start the conversation. He was used to dealing with physical injuries. Aside from his own PTSD and the PTSD of his brothers, he wasn't entirely sure how to go about when dealing with mental problems.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" Sterling asked, unsure of why the medic seemed distracted.

"Can we talk?" Kix asked, deciding to simply be direct. That was often the best way.

"Sure, you wanna talk here or do you want to convene to one of the bedrooms?" Sterling asked.

"Here's good," Kix responded after a moment of deliberation to see if they would be overheard; Rex and the others were cleaning up in the kitchen and Emily was still off in the other room, getting sorted.

"Okay," Sterling said as she hopped up onto the countertop. "What do you want to talk about?"

Kix took a deep breath, he wasn't sure how to broach the subject but decided to just say what was on his mind. "It's about yesterday morning," He began, initially worried that she'd get snappish or defensive. Thankfully, the girl just shook her head slightly.

"I was wondering when you'd ask about that," Sterling said gently.

"It was obvious to anyone with eyes that you weren't okay and that you needed support but you said you were fine," Kix said, a hint of his 'stern doctor voice' as Fives called it leaking through. "I know you aren't a soldier but soldiers shouldn't hide their injuries, else it ends up being their downfall in a fight."

Sterling didn't look at him, she merely nodded. Kix decided that maybe he should take a different approach.

"You're my friend Sterling, I want to help. Even now I can tell you aren't fine."

Sterling sighed, she was grateful Kix was being blunt. She opened her mouth, searching for words before deciding on what to say:

"I didn't want to worry anyone. I have a habit of not telling anyone about my issues cause I don't want to burden them with my problems."

"I wouldn't have been bothered, I promise," Kix said.

Sterling looked at him, she sighed and her shoulders seemed to slump a little. "I guess I didn't want to admit I was scared. Likely a leftover from childhood bullying at school I guess," Sterling shrugged. Her school days when she was kid were an insanely touchy subject with her. She hardly ever talked about it with anyone, Emily included. Her best friend knew the barest of minimums about Sterling's elementary school days. "I was surprised I didn't panic until after I hit Timmins. Once I drove out of town, I couldn't contain my fear anymore. I needed to get off the road and just panic until I could calm down. And then at the dinner, when I saw mine and Emily's pictures on the screen, all my panic came back harder."

Kix hopped up onto the counter and sat next to Sterling.

"I get it. I'm a soldier and a clone, a common perception of myself and my brothers is that we don't feel fear. Which is a lie, we all feel fear, it's normal," Kix said. "Look, what I'm trying to say is that's it's alright to be scared. But shouldn't hold it in or hide it. Next time you feel like this, come talk to me okay?" Kix asked

Sterling reached over and pulled him into a hug. "Thanks, Kix. I'll be sure to do that," Sterling whispered.

"Good."

"I'm just gonna finish up in here. I'll be right down."

"Alright."

Kix left the washroom and Sterling watched him leave. She felt lighter than earlier, a voice in her head that sounded suspiciously like her sister whispered: "see Sterling, not everyone is out to hurt you if you open up." Sterling rubbed her face and went downstairs, jumping to the bottom of the stairwell and walking into the kitchen. Emily had reappeared, now in a black sweater, pink shirt and blue jeans. She was typing something but paused when she noticed Sterling come in and smiled at her friend. The clones in the room were asking her questions about the stories she had told them; bemused, she said that telling them much more would go into 'spoiler territory'. Sterling leaned against the fridge and asked:

"What do people want to do today?"

"I...hum, I don't know," Emily pondered, saving her document and closing the laptop. There would be time to write later.

"Maybe we could go outside for a bit. See what's out there," Wolffe suggested.

"Depends on how much snow is on the ground but hold that thought," Sterling said, thoughtful.

Sterling left the kitchen. There was the sound of the front door opening, swearing and the sound of the door closing quickly. Sterling's voice could be heard shouting:

"Well, going outside's off the table! Sorry, Wolffe!"

"How much snow is out there?" Emily asked uncertainly.

"It comes up to just under my breasts, we aren't going outside," Sterling said re-entering the kitchen. "And that's just the outside of the front door. I don't wanna know how much snow is outside the back door. Probably more than the front end of the house, no porch."

"Holy crap!" Emily exclaimed, eyes wide as dinner plates. She'd never seen that amount of snow in her life!

"It snows. A lot," Sterling deadpanned. "The roads leading up here probably aren't in good shape either. That means if we could get out of here, driving a little bit too the south is out of the question too. This means we're gonna be snow-logged for a few days."

"I remember you telling me that, but still... wow," Emily said.

There was a moment of silence before Emily asked, on a whim - "Are there any card decks around here? I know a few games."

"Yeah. There are also some board games and a deck of cards floating around here somewhere. I'll just need a minute to find them," Sterling said.

"I'll help."

Sterling and Emily left the kitchen. Once they had left, Waxer let out a slow whistle.

"Wow. And here I thought Hoth had snow problems," He muttered

"No kidding," Fives said, peering out the window. He looked only slightly less surprised than Emily.

"Sterling seems pretty used to this," Echo remarked.

"She said she and her family lived far North for a while," Rex said, remembering what Sterling had told him when he had asked.

"Does it snow year round up here?" Cody asked

"Fortunately no, Cody. But the snow does last until June," Sterling reappeared, two decks in hand.

Emily mumbled about how crazy that sounded. The idea of snow lasting until June was crazy, though the longest time she had seen snow hang around was after an ice storm where the snow lasted until May.

"You get used to it," Sterling said at her friend's mumbling. "The bugs on the other hand..." She trailed off with a shudder.

"Bugs?" Rex asked, at Sterling's reaction.

"Mosquitoes and black flies. Those two are the worst. Though the beetles tend to get pretty big too."

"Ew!" Emily said wrinkling her nose. She was fairly familiar with insects, from years of travelling to rural locations and camping. However, she was never going to start liking them, or even tolerating them, regardless of the amount of exposure.

"What are mosquitoes?" Boil asked, wondering if they were something akin to what he had heard about the Umbara wildlife given the girl's reactions.

"Mosquitoes are these little insects that fly around the woods and drink your blood," Sterling explained.

"They are the worst," Emily said bitterly.

The clones looked slightly horrified. Fives and Echo both looked faintly green at that while Rex and Cody grimaced.

"Not all your blood I hope?" Kix asked, worried.

"No, not even enough to really hurt you, but their bites are the most annoying things ever," Emily said, various bad memories of bites flashing through her mind.

"They itch and you can't help but scratch at it," Sterling agreed, nodding.

"Dare I ask what black flies are?" Wolffe asked.

"They're like mosquitoes only they bite and take small bits of flesh out of your body. But compared to horse flies and deer flies, which are bigger, their bites more painful and larger chunks of flesh removed, I'd take my chances with the black flies," Sterling said grimly.

Several clones shuddered. Rex's hand instinctively went to where he would keep his pistols.

"Don't worry, they only come out during the summer," Sterling said calmly.

"Thank God," Emily muttered, wrapping her arms around her chest.

"What games did you two find?" Cody asked, changing the subject.

They prepared to return to the living room; Red and Cody hauled the table in so everyone had access to it thanks to the wider room. Emily placed two decks of cards on the table while Sterling piled the boxes for Monopoly, Risk and Battleship on the table.

"Our selection," Sterling said.

"What's Monopoly?" Fives asked, blinking at the cartoon green box.

Monopoly is a game where you are kind of an investor. You buy property and such. And you also have to get everyone's money," Sterling explained, as they went back to the kitchen to grab a few drinks.

"It's fun," Emily said.

"I haven't lost a game," Sterling said proudly.

"Is that right?" Rex asked it was a challenge.

Sterling looked down, blushing. "I...I...huh...I have a tendency to steal everyone's money before they realize what's happened. I don't know how I do it, it just happens." Her blush was getting deeper and spreading.

"Who wants to try it?" Emily asked in an attempt to divert the attention from her friend. All the clones shouted in agreement. "Good. Now, not everyone can play at once, so we'll rotate depending on how many games we play. I've never played with more than five people, so let's start with that number."

"Sterling, you gonna come play?" Ponds asked when he noticed Sterling wasn't following them.

"Huh? Oh yeah... coming."

Emily gave her friend a curious look as Ponds nodded and left.

"I made a big fat fool of myself," Sterling muttered.

"No, you didn't. You just encouraged them to try and beat you," Emily said, patting Sterling on the back.

"Personally, I'd like to see them try and beat me," Sterling said fiercely, recovering at the encouragement.

"Let's go then," Emily responded, grinning.

The game lasted a couple of hours, as Monopoly usually does. Sterling proved herself true to her word and won the game by a landslide. The brunette teenager was insanely good at the game, just when you thought you were doing well, BAM! Sterling had all your money. She took her victory gracefully too: "Yes! I win!"

Emily looked rueful. "I could have gotten you, had I not landed on Boardwalk that is.

She scowled at Cody. The Commander put his hands in the air.

"Not my fault you landed there," he defended.

"I want a rematch," Rex said.

"Me too," Fives said petulantly.

"You guys want to face another humiliating defeat?" Sterling asked incredulously

"We're very determined," Emily said cheerfully.

"I think I'll sit this one out you guys, one humiliating defeat is enough for me," Ponds said. Wolffe swapped in at that.

"Suit yourself, boss," Razor said.

"Alright then," Sterling grinned, faintly reminiscent of a shark in that moment.

Another round passed, with Sterling as the victor once again. Ponds patted the brunette on the shoulder, shaking his head.

"Gods dammit Sterling!" Fives exclaimed.

"How do you keep doing this?" Rex asked, baffled, looking down at the partial remains of his money.

"Really? How?" Wolffe asked curiously.

"Its a gift. And pure talent." Sterling bragged.

"Evidently," Waxer muttered.

He had gone bankrupt to Boil when he landed on Boil's property that happened to have a house on it. Boil was particularly smug when that happened. Though, Waxer got the last laugh when Boil landed on the most expensive piece of property owned by Sterling that just so happened to have a hotel on it.

Emily looked determined. There was no way she could beat Sterling at monopoly. So she suggested a game she knew she could and would win.

"Who wants to try Rummy 500?"

"Sure. How do we play?" Sterling asked

Emily grabbed the card deck and quickly explained the rules as she dealt the cards. Again, not everyone could play, so Waxer, Ponds, Thire, Razer and Echo all sat back, watching the diminutive brunette flash a far-too-innocent smile at the competition. "Ready?" She asked.

"Ready." The clones chorused.

Sterling proved to be a decent card player but in the end, Emily was the victor. Echo and Waxer both cheered for her, causing her face to redden considerably, though she grinned through all of it.

"I thought so," Emily said smugly.

"You're good," Sterling said with a quick nod.

"I got a terrible hand..." Fives grumbled.

"Yeah, that happens," Emily acknowledged; even she wasn't immune to the hand of fate after all. However, this was a game she was particularly lucky in.

"I think Rex wants another rematch," Ponds said.

Emily grinned.

"Have fun Rex," Sterling said. "You're on your own."

"Oh come on Sterling, you aren't half bad. Sit down, I'll deal you in," Emily said.

"You just want to kick my ass again," Sterling said rolling her eyes as she sat down.

"Darn straight. Bring it on you guys," Emily clapped.

"Oh it's on," Rex said, hoping to catch her off guard now that she was complacent.

Another round later with Emily as the victor once more, Sterling tossed her head back and laughed. "Wow, and here I thought you loosing to me during that second round of monopoly was humiliating..." Sterling shook her head.

Emily cackled and Rex pouted. Cody stared forlornly at his cards.

"You okay there Cody?" Waxer asked

"I'm fine. Time will tell if my ego will recover," Cody sighed.

"Well, there is one game that can recover your ego... sabacc," Hardcase said

"Yeah, Cody, you're good at it," Boil said.

"Sabacc?" Emily asked, blinking. She didn't think she'd ever heard of that one.

"It's a card game."

"Cool, show us." The brunette asked, enthusiastic.

"Okay." Cody showed the two girls the game and they began to play. Nearly an hour and a half later, everyone had been eliminated except Cody and Sterling.

"It's been an hour and a half and Sterling and Cody are still going at it," Kix said

"Wow."

"I gotta hand it to Sterling. She is one stubborn lady," Boil said

"She sure is." Waxer murmured. It was the only way she could have driven for as long as she did, with so little sleep, otherwise.

"How long do you think the game will last until one of them gives up?" Rex asked

"I don't know, I can't be sure," Emily said. "Sterling doesn't like giving up."

"I can tell," Fives said.

"And here I thought General Skywalker was stubborn," Echo said shaking his head.

"I'm sure she'd appreciate the comparison," Emily chuckled, once again partially hiding her unease. It was easy for her to separate Anakin from Vader in her head. It made it easier for her not to flinch anytime his name was brought up in conversation.

"Think we should call it a tie?" Ponds asked as the game reached the two-hour mark.

"Are you kidding Ponds?" Wolffe asked. "This is too good to stop."

Wolffe was grinning madly, he wanted Cody to get his ass handed to him at sabacc. Wolffe would never admit to being bitter with Cody over losing the game one too many times. Emily giggled and cast a longing look at her laptop. She hadn't gotten the chance to write anything that morning.

"The king of sabacc is about to be dethroned! Go, Sterling!" Boost shouted.

Emily clapped her hands. Sterling tossed her head back with a laugh.

"Give up yet Commander Cody?" She asked

Cody frowned as he stared at his cards, he hadn't expected the round to go on for this long. Or for Sterling to pick up on the game so quickly.

"Well, are you giving up?"

Emily whipped out her phone and took a picture of the duo. Maybe someday she could put it into a gallery entitled "face off". Cody then laid his cards down on the table for Sterling to see.

"Let's see your cards, Sterling."

Sterling lay her cards out on the table with a smug grin. She had the better hand and the highest score.

"Read em and weep. Looks like I win Cody."

Emily cheered loudly, Waxer and Boil following her example.

"The King has been dethroned! Long live the Queen!" Hardcase shouted.

"Long live queen Sterling!" Jesse and Fives cheered.

"Long may she reign!" Emily shouted, quoting Game of Thrones.

There was a lot of clapping a cheering. No one had ever been able to beat Cody at Sabacc until now. Sterling blushed a dark red with embarrassment.

"Guys..." Sterling's voice cracked, "Stop, you're embarrassing me."

"You're a card shark Sterling," Cody said, conceding the battle.

"Thank you, Cody," Sterling squeaked, unable to look him in the eye.

The poor girl was starting the resemble a cooked lobster. Emily figured that it would be best to intervene so her friend wouldn't die of embarrassment.

"So, who wants..."

...

Emily didn't even get to finish her sentence, a wave of cold and what felt like evil washed over her. She gasped and staggered. Sterling was on her feet when her friend stumbled, something was wrong.

"Emily?" She called

"...Ah..."

Sterling could see Emily's backpack and several small items around the room begin to levitate Emily swayed, seemingly suspended in a frozen moment, staring at something no one else could see. Alarm bells were going off right and left in Sterling's mind, this wasn't good. There was the feeling of having a bucket of ice poured over Sterling's head, it was like Emily and she happened to be under attack. She would only watch as the colour in Emily iris' drain away and her skin goes very pale.

"Sterling, what's happening?" Ponds asked

"I'm not sure..." Sterling said before trying to get Emily's attention. "Emily? Hey Emily?"

Emily screamed as if she was being murdered; the noise was high pitched and horrific. Sterling jumped back. The room shuddered violently before everything crashed to the ground and Emily passed out, collapsing like a puppet whose strings had abruptly been severed; Kix catching her before she hit the floor. Around that moment, Sterling felt the temperature around her start to fall. She hadn't played with the temperature settings, her instincts were screaming at her to run but from what? Sterling's vision began tunnelling, vaguely she could feel her knees buckle and the last thing she remembered before she passed out was Ponds shouting her name.

...

Many miles away, Anakin woke up with a start. He had felt the dark side rise up violently. Like it was looking for something and it had found what it was looking for.

"Master?"

Looks like he wasn't the only one who had felt it, Ahsoka had to have felt it as well, judging by the look on her face and the way she came running into his quarters. "What was that?" She asked

"I have no idea. Has the storm stopped?" Anakin asked, his hand instinctively going to his lightsaber as he regarded their surroundings.

"Yes, I think those girls are in danger," Ahsoka said. The presence wasn't near them, but it was close by.

"I think so too, I'll get the ship started."

...

Kix had gone into his medic mode, both Sterling and Emily had passed out and collapsed rather suddenly. Emily's scream and the way her eyes had dilated was akin to a stabbing, though she seemed completely uninjured. It didn't help that the girls were as cold as Hoth either. Kix quickly lays Emily down on one of the couches Sterling had used as supports for the fort the other night. He indicated for Ponds to place Sterling on the other couch close by. Emily looked like a corpse, she was so pale and Sterling didn't look much better.

"What's going on Kix?" Jesse asked

"I have no idea, Jesse. But we need to get their body temperatures up. They are both far too cold to be healthy." Kix said

"What do you need us to do?" Rex asked

"Get blankets. Get that fire going. Jesse, run to the RV and get my kit. Boost, you've had medic training right?"

"A little bit yes."

"Good, I'm gonna need you to help me okay? I don't have Corric with me so you're going to act as my backup okay?"

"Got it."

"Good."

Kix pushed the sleeves of his shirt up to his elbows and got to work.

...

Emily blinked her eyes open and didn't recognize where she was. She was in the dark and it was cold. There was no sign of Sterling anywhere. She felt like she was flying. Then everything changed; Emily felt her heart begin to race. Whoever the voice belonged too was also manipulating her spacial awareness, she now felt like she was trapped in a small box that felt like it was filling with water. She flailed, trying to gain purchase in this bewildering environment, but her limbs were sluggish and she couldn't feel anything between her fingers as she grasped at empty air. Her claustrophobia began to kick in and her breathing escalated to short, desperate gulps. Where was Sterling? Then, a sinister voice from within the dark whispered:

"They won't love you anymore."

"No!" Emily whispered.

She knew, somehow, without asking, who the "they" were; her family. She hadn't told them the truth and had run. Like she had tried to run when her insomnia was at it worst. Like she'd tried to escape a world that seemed so difficult one day she was alone in the house, exhausted and unable to function. She felt trapped, the small box filled with water seemed to be getting even smaller, she was trapped. There was no sign of Sterling either.

"Do you think this will change anything? Do you think YOU can change anything? You think your simple little gestures will be a comfort when Order 66 is executed?"

"Go away..."

The voice laughed. "You would hide under your bed from reality while it collapses around you? You lied to them, you know they are going to die yet you have said nothing...All these years, yet you're more a coward now than when you were a child."

Emily sobbed; her head felt like it was being crushed in a circular vice. The voice was malevolent, yet STRONG, it coaxed her and called to her even as it said these things.

"A weak child...you've always been weak. Too weak to stand up for yourself when you were ignored for another, too weak to keep yourself together when your strength was sapped by sickness and your concerns were dismissed as selfishness...Even when you try to do better, to BE better, its a weak gesture that caves under pressure...are you not tired of being overwhelmed by your inadequacies?"

"W-What..."

"Come. Come to my side. I will remake you, open your prophetic eyes. You will reach the potential that is now only the idle dream of a frightened rabbit."

She trembled. "Who are you?"

The voice chuckled. "You know who I am."

"No..." And in that moment, she did know. Raw terror seized her very soul. "No, oh god, NO!"

Sterling blinked open her eyes and looked around. She couldn't see, it was too dark for her to see. An age-old fear of the dark was starting to make itself known. It was cold as well as dark and Sterling felt her body starting to go into overdrive. She tried to keep her breathing under control, she needed to focus. There was no sign of Emily. Sterling started running and shouting her friend's name as she ran. Sterling had no way of knowing if she was running in circles or not. Sterling stopped and shook her head, she couldn't focus. Then there was a sound, someone shouting one word: "no!" Sterling knew almost instantly who it was, it was Emily.

She ran towards the voice, boots smashing on what sounded like very shallow water. There was another voice; male, sinister and make shivers run up her spine. Making matters worse was the fact that she couldn't see, she could only hear. She needed to get her friend's attention. What made matters worse was the fact that Emily seemed to be listening to the voice and believing it.

"Emily!" Sterling shouted. "Don't listen to him! It's Sterling! Focus on me! On my voice!"

That seemed to get Emily's attention. At her friend's shout, Emily turned to where she thought Sterling was. She couldn't see anything. But she had heard Sterling. She wasn't alone in this darkness.

"Sterling? What do I do? It's crushing me!" Emily shouted desperately, her eyes panning the darkness.

"I don't know! Reach for anything that feels familiar. Reach for me, reach for the boys. We're all here, I promise!"

"I...I can't feel mom. Or dad. Or Rob. Are they not reaching for me?" Tears floated in this mental prison, displaced by a lack of gravity. Were they in space?

"I don't know. I don't know, I can't feel my parents or my siblings either. But I'm here, the boys are here, we're all reaching for you. I'm here, I'm not leaving you!"

"Where are you? Everything is so dark. I'm trying to find you."

"I don't know where you are - I can't fucking see! I could really use some fucking light!"

As Sterling finished her sentence, there was an explosion of bright light. Sterling blinked away the spots, she spotted Emily on the ground. Emily was blinded for a few seconds before she looked around. She had collapsed on...on...was this Jedha? It faintly resembled the Holy City as she had seen it in Rogue One; still intact, though there was a massive shadow surrounding everything except the little bubble of light that contained both her and her friend. Emily weakly pushed herself to her knees, so grateful to see again that she would have wept in earnest if her survival instincts weren't still flaring wildly. Sterling was a few feet away. She scrambled to her feet and ran to her friend and flung both arms around Sterling's shoulders.

"I can see, oh thank God," Emily whispered, feeling - (like a child. A frightened rabbit.)

"Not quite at that level. You alright?"

"Yeah, I will be once we get out of here."

"You can't run from your responsibilities forever," The sinister voice retorted. He wasn't done with them yet...

Sterling felt her blood turn to ice, the voice seemed to be all around her but she couldn't see the speaker at all. She turned to Emily, eyes wide - there was only one way she could see forward - and whispered:

"Run!" The two girls took off at a sprint in an attempt to get away.

"Who is that?" Sterling asked

"You know who he is!" Emily nearly shrieked. "I told you, he might be able to sense us-!"

It was at that moment did Emily feel a hand wrap itself around her arm. It seemed to be pulling her back towards the dark and away from the light... and Sterling.

"You're hurting me! Let go!" Emily shouted, fear finally giving way to hysterical anger and self-preservation.

The room rattled violently, Sterling noticed Emily shout and whipped around to grab Emily's other arm and pulled with all her might. The pulling force on Emily coming from the dark was far stronger than Sterling but she dug her feet into the ground and grit her teeth. She wasn't going to let Emily go, friends didn't abandon friends.

"Let go of my friend!" Sterling bellowed, "Stay away from us!"

A hard yank from Sterling sent Emily sprawling her way. Sterling pulled Emily to her feet and whispered in her ear: "Run, I'll be right behind you."

There was the sound of cruel laughter as the teenagers started running again.

"Poor, naive little girls. You think you can escape me? You're just like me," the voice mocked.

"Maybe we are naive but we're not dark. And neither of us are anything like you," Emily yelled back; if she could hold onto that, he couldn't catch her again-.

"Emily, forget about him, just keep running, I think I can see a way out," Sterling said.

Sterling was right, a few feet in front of them was what looked like; in Sterling's opinion at least, some kind of gateway that would get them out of there. Then, Sterling felt a hand wrap around her wrist. Sterling watched Emily leave through the gateway and the voice whisper menacingly:

"Your friend might have escaped but you will be a fine replacement for your companion."

There was no way Sterling was going down easily or quietly. Wheeling around, Sterling planted a fierce right hook in where she thought her opponent's nose was. The crunch and the feeling of cartilage giving way seemed to be satisfying enough. The sheer surprise of Sterling's action seemed to loosen the grip, allowing Sterling to make one sharp movement downwards, freeing her wrist. Sterling the placed a well-aimed kick to where she thought her opponent's stomach was. It wasn't satisfying - not even close, she couldn't feel like she'd made an impact at all, it was like punching a shadow - but she wanted to leave a message. A message that seemed to say don't mess with me.

"You are nothing like me. And I am definitely nothing like you," Sterling growled.

Sterling broke into a sprint and ran for the light.

Back in the cabin, Emily's eyes shot open as she sat up quickly. She nearly fell off the couch before Kix's hands caught her.

"Emily, hey, what happened? Are you alright?" Kix asked

"I d-don't... my head hurts... I'm cold," Emily said, her voice breaking

"Rex, grab her another blanket," Kix ordered

Rex quickly wrapped her up in a comforter that he had found and pulled Emily into a warm hug. Emily shivered violently and curled into a ball in his arms. She desperately wanted to call her mother and cry and apologize, and hope she forgave her. She had been afraid of the dark before and now she was more afraid of it then she had ever been before.

...

Meanwhile, Anakin had thrown the throttle on the ship and was going a fast as it would go. Anakin had felt the dark side recede, as had Ahsoka. They were then joined by Obi-Wan and Padmé.

"What the Hell was that?" Anakin asked, all his nerves alive

"What the Hell was what?" Padmé asked, worry in her eyes - when Anakin, Obi-Wan and Ashoka could all sense something, all the way out here, it couldn't be good.

"You did feel that right Obi-Wan?" Ahsoka asked anxiously.

"The fact that both sides of the Force were moving, yes, I think every Jedi I know by name would have felt that," Obi-Wan said.

"What's going on?" Padmé asked

"I could feel a battle in the Force. Two children of the light were battling the dark. Both were nearly taken at two different points of the battle. But they managed to escape," Ahsoka said exchanging a worried glance with Anakin and Obi-Wan.

"Then those girls are Force-sensitive..." Obi-Wan concluded. "But they're too old to develop it now!"

"And yet they did Master!" Anakin snapped, his worry was practically palpable to everyone on the small ship.

"We need to get there NOW! They aren't even Padawans. They can't struggle with the Force by themselves. They're probably both terrified and you know what happens when you have scared Force users," Ahsoka said firmly.

Anakin nodded sharply and floored the accelerator. The ship hurdled onward. Anakin hoped it wouldn't be too late.

...

"Kix, Sterling's still unconscious," Boost whispered.

Boost's whispers reached Emily's ears. She felt her heart drop to her feet. Had Sterling not been able to escape. "Run, I'll be right behind you," rang out in Emily's ears.

"What do you mean she's still...but she was right behind me... she was with me...I" Emily said as she frantically scanned the room for her friend.

She found Sterling lying on a couch nearby, eyes closed and pale as the snow outside. She looked cadaverous. Faintly, Emily could feel Sterling's Force signatures thrumming weakly.

"Oh no..." Emily whispered. She slipped off the couch, blankets and comforter still wrapped tightly around her. "I don't understand... she was right behind me."

"Emily, what's happening?" Ponds asked

"I don't know... I don't know! Sterling!" Emily shouted, her voice taking on a hysterical note.

Then Sterling shot up like she had been stung by a wasp. Emily could practically see her friend's suppressed scream.

"Sterling!" Emily shouted.

"Emily? Oh thank God," Sterling said, she sounded out of breath, like she had been running.

Emily couldn't do anything but sob. She was too overwhelmed to really say anything. Sterling slid down off the couch and held Emily tightly.

"It's okay. It's okay. Breathe," Sterling said, voice shaking, sounding very much like she should be taking her own advice.

"W-what happened?" Rex asked, shaken by what had just happened. Both Emily and Sterling had screamed when they were unconscious, neither of them saying anything that made any sense; at one point Emily had started thrashing like she was drowning. All the while the clones could only watch and look helplessly at them while glancing at Kix who's expression was pinched with fear even still.

Sterling took a deep breath, held it and released it. "I don't know. I don't know. I wish I knew," Sterling said.

She looked up and saw the clones standing around awkwardly. Sterling reached out and grabbed Ponds by the wrist.

"Come here, group hug."

...

"It stopped," Ahsoka said, startled.

"We're close though. We should be there in five minutes if we keep going at this speed," Anakin said

"What stopped Ahsoka?" Padmé asked.

"The resonance in the Force," Ahsoka said, blinking, uncertain if she'd felt that right.

"Are you sure?" Obi-Wan asked; he had sensed it too, but for something like that to happen in a place like THIS...

"Pretty sure. It's quiet for now."

"What resonance in the Force?" Padmé asked

"The Force surged; like..." Anakin paused to find the right words, "like waking up to a bucket of ice water. Then, as soon as it started, it stopped."

"I could feel a battle. The dark tried to take the girls," Ahsoka elaborated.

"They barely got away. It's luck that they managed even that," Anakin said grimly.

"They managed to get away? How?" Obi-Wan asked, eyebrows hitting his hairline. "They aren't even trained in any of the basics."

"Sheer desperate panic," Anakin said.

"Are they okay?" Padmé asked

"No, but they will be," Anakin said.

The map beeped and Anakin slowed the ship down and landed it carefully. Everyone got out of the ship and were hit with the frigid air. It was like getting a pillow full of nails straight to the face.

"We're here," Anakin said.

"Rex! Fives!" Ahsoka called, shivering and wishing she had brought a coat.

"Gah! Cold, cold, cold. It's really cold out here. Are you sure we're not on Hoth?" Obi-Wan asked

"I was about to say it reminded me of Hoth," Padmé said shuddering.

They climbed their way to the front porch and stood in front of the door.

"Well, knock on the door," Anakin said.

"Hurry, freezing here," Ahsoka said through gritted teeth.

Obi-Wan reached out and knocked. Inside, Emily froze in panic before she managed to disentangle herself from Sterling, the clones and the blankets to flee into a back room, slamming the door behind her. Sterling seemed to be of the same mindset, bolting up the stairs and into one of the bedrooms, shoving herself into the closet.

"Who's at the door?" Wolffe asked

"Maybe it's the authorities," Echo said.

"Crap, what should we do?" Jek asked

"Uh... Waxer, Boil, you two run back to the RV and grab your blaster. Set them to stun and when Rex opens the door, stun them," Cody suggested.

"Yeah, great idea Cody. Then what do we do with them?" Wolffe asked

"I don't know. Rex and I will figure something out," Cody said.

"Why are you dragging me into this? This is your idea." Rex demanded.

"Captain Rex!" Ahsoka shouted from outside.

"Commander Tano?" Rex asked

"Waxer, Boil, scratch my earlier idea. Rex, get the door. Waxer, go check on Sterling. Fives go check on Emily," Cody ordered.

"Open the damn door before we freeze out here!" Ahsoka shouted.

"You heard the Commander, open the door," Cody said.

Rex stood up and opened the door, ushering in the nearly frozen Jedi and senator. Anakin was nearly bowled over by the amount of fear in the Force he could feel. The air was thick with it. "Whoa."

Obi-Wan did a quick headcount of the clones in the living room. He breathed a sigh of relief. "You're all accounted for... good."

"Generals. Commander. Senator," Rex greeted everyone in turn.

"Do you feel that?" Ahsoka asked

"Yeah. Rex, you're friends, where are they?" Anakin asked

"Emily ran into a back room and Sterling ran upstairs Sir," Rex said.

"Right...Master-" Anakin started.

"I'll go upstairs. You help the girl in the back room," Obi-Wan said.

"Don't bother Sir. Fives is checking on Emily and Waxer is checking on Sterling," Rex said.

"I trust them, Rex, it's the Force that concerns me," Anakin responded.

"The Force Sir?" Rex asked, not sure if he should be glad or more concerned at the implications...

"They just had an encounter with the Dark Side and I'm guessing they don't know how to shield themselves. That's why we need to talk to them," Anakin explained.

"Sir, are you trying to tell me that Emily and Sterling are Force-sensitive?" Rex asked as he put the pieces together.

"Did anything levitate in here five to fifteen minutes ago?" Ahsoka asked

"Right before Emily passed out Commander."

"That's a traumatic first vision. The back room you said?"

"Yes, Sir. And then Sterling went and passed out herself. It took her longer to wake up than Emily did."

Anakin nodded at his Captain and strode towards the room where Emily had taken refuge. He sent in well-practiced waves of reassurance through the Force for Emily to pick up on; it helped keep Ashoka focused during the worst of their missions. Since she was fairly new to the whole Force-sensitive business, she should be able to pick up on it. He walked into the room and found Fives sitting on the floor near a bed. He was talking in a low, hushed but calming voice.

"Fives?" Anakin called gently.

The ARC trooper looked up, stood up and saluted.

"She's shaking Sir," Fives said nodding in the direction of the bed. "She said the darkness spoke to her."

Anakin squatted down, making himself seem less threatening to a scared teenager. "Emily right?" He asked

He could make out a pair of blue eyes staring at him.

Emily sucked in a sharp, disbelieving breath. This, on top of everything else, puts her dangerously close to simply passing out from stress and astonishment. "Anakin S-Skywalker." It was more a statement than a question.

"How did you know my name?"

"I...um... Rex told me," Not entirely a lie. "How..." The question trailed off in the air. She was still having trouble breathing evenly.

"How did I find you?"

Emily nodded. She was hiding under the bed like some kind of cat.

"I was able to sense you through the Force. You have a strong presence within it."

Emily shook her head. The voice's condemnations kept echoing in her ears. "I don't feel strong. I couldn't tell my family the truth and I barely found my way out of the darkness."

"You are strong. The fact that you could get away at all means there's something to you." Anakin said soothingly. "If I may ask, how did you escape the darkness?"

"I... I wrestled with it. It told me I was a coward, I ran from every responsibility presented to me. That I was weak and pathetic, that...that he could make me strong, transform me into something else. I...I was scared, I had to get away. Sterling helped. I remembered... remembered that I was more than just a screw-up. Then I woke up," Emily fidgetted, "Whoever it was, they were very far away. Like, he was straining to reach us. That's why we could get away."

"What did Sterling do? Can you also tell me how far away you think this darkness was?"

"She called after me, reminded me I wasn't alone... I... can't figure it out. I'm sorry."

"No no no. It's okay, it's okay. Must have been pretty scary huh?"

Emily nodded and Anakin sat back.

"Why don't you come out hmm? Fives and I can get you a drink. Is that okay?"

"...Okay." Emily crawled out from under the bed and Anakin helped her to her feet. "This is Anakin Skywalker. I'll be alright." Emily mentally reminded herself. Fives gently placed his hand on Emily's shoulder and gave it a light squeeze. She smiled weakly at him, brushing her tears away with her free hand.

...

Obi-Wan carefully climbed the stairs onto the second floor of the cabin. He was sending out soothing waves through the Force.

"Waxer?" He called out gently

"We're in here General," Waxer's voice came from one of the rooms.

Obi-Wan knocked lightly on the door. "May I come in?"

"Of course Sir. Poor kid had quite the scare though."

Obi-Wan stepped inside, Waxer was talking to a teenager with short brown hair. When he stepped inside, the girl's head shot up and hazel eyes locked with his own blue ones. He gave her a small and friendly smile. "Sterling right?"

"That's me. You're Obi-Wan Kenobi."

"Indeed I am," Obi-Wan as he lowered himself to the floor. "I understand you had a rather intense Force vision."

If he was surprised that Sterling knew his name, he hid it well. Sterling nodded.

"Yeah, yeah it was. Scared the shit outta me," Sterling shuddered.

Obi-wan blinked, this part of the galaxy was relatively uncharted and the Force was fairly quiet. Nothing much happened this far away from the Outer Rim. Sterling noticed his surprise and asked quietly:

"Everything okay?"

"Don't worry, I was merely surprised. The Force is so quiet in this galaxy... but never the less."

"Do you want me to tell you about my recent vision?"

"Yes, please. I can better lend my assistance if I know all the details. Take your time though, there is no rush."

"Emily collapsed first, and then I followed her. I found myself in a dark and cold place. I couldn't see. And everything felt evil and there was this voice. I think he wanted to take Emily, do...do SOMETHING to her. He was talking to her and she seemed to believe what he was saying."

"He? Then you were attacked deliberately..."

"I think you're right at that. He wanted to take Emily and me. I managed to get Emily's attention and help her escape before we started running. But he grabbed her..."

"He was overwhelming? I understand. Likely that voice belonged to a Sith... but how did you two escape him?"

"I... grabbed Emily too. I refused to let him take her with her without a fight. I managed to pull her away and we started running again. I still don't know what I did to get him to let go of her... I just didn't want to lose my friend."

"She has a good friend in you, likely she managed to pull herself away with your help. Amazing... your Force sense is newly awakened too."

"She's my best friend, I wasn't going to let her go without a fight. But my vision didn't end there. With Emily gone, he grabbed me next," Sterling rubbed at her wrist. There was what looked like finger-shaped bruises twining around Sterling's wrist. I fought back and got away."

Obi-Wan smiled softly. Even if part of him was concerned about the level of attachment between Sterling and Emily (that typically posed a danger to strong Force users, the Code said) but he didn't comment on it. Considering factors such as their ages and how long the two girls had known each other, there wasn't really much he could say.

"I believe Anakin has successfully coaxed your friend out of her room. How about we get you something warm to drink and discuss strategy hmm?"

"Okay."

They all headed downstairs, Sterling taking extra care to hide the bruising on her wrist, she knew Kix would be watching her and Emily like a hawk after what happened. They found Emily sitting in the living room, a blanket over her shoulders and a mug of hot chocolate in her hands. She was in awe of Ahsoka, who was the first real alien Emily had ever met in real life. Fives made his way over to Sterling and gently pressed a mug of hot chocolate into her hands.

"Here, I figured you'd want one."

"Thank you Fives."

Sterling took a sip of the warm drink and went to sit near Emily.

"How are you, Sterling?" Emily asked, looking seriously at her.

"I'll live. How are you holding up?"

"Well, I think I've stopped shaking."

Sterling hummed gently and wrapped an arm around Emily's shoulders in reassurance. "God, I'm the older one I should be reassuring her." Emily thought. "He was right, I am pathetic..." "Master Skywalker was very kind."

"I'm glad. Master Kenobi was very nice as well," Sterling then lowered her voice, "How much do you want to bet that the voice was you-know-who himself?"

Emily swallowed nervously. "It's not Dooku's style and Maul wouldn't have bothered." She whispered.

"Let me rephrase that; how much do you want to bet that it was Sidious?" Sterling had a very good idea who had attacked her and Emily but wasn't 100% certain.

"I don't want it to be him." Emily shivered. "It's too terrifying to think about."

"Who else could it have been? Because it definitely wasn't Ventress."

"I know! I just... that's..."

"I know." Sterling, now that the adrenaline had worn away, understood that Emily was afraid. She was afraid too.

"What are you two talking about over there?" Echo asked in concern "What's wrong?"

Rex frowned at the two girls. He had seen them silently confer before. Sterling flushed a little.

"Uh... well... uh... oh God..." Sterling stammered.

Emily shivered. Sterling took a deep breath and looked Anakin dead in the eye.

"It's something Master Kenobi said. He thinks Emily and I were attacked deliberately," Sterling said.

"We were. I heard him talking to me. He said he could... make me strong." Emily swallowed hard. That man...he would have made her strong, all right. And she would have been a disposable, likely cyborg figure like Vader or Dooku or Maul. A puppet and eventually...a loose end. She pressed her nails into her hand.

"Typical Sith tactics," Ahsoka said. "Good thing he wasn't nearby."

"Valid point. But why a Sith Lord would have any interest in us is beyond me. Emily and I only figured out we were Force-sensitive two days ago and even then, we weren't certain."

"I saw something at the... actually, can I have a second?" Emily asked abruptly. She had just had a thought. "I'd like to get something from the kitchen."

"Sure, take your time," Anakin said.

Emily stood up and walked towards the kitchen, taking a minute to catch Sterling's eye and indicate to the kitchen with her head. Sterling took that as a: "I want to talk to your look." Excusing herself, Sterling followed Emily into the kitchen. Emily was leaning on the sink. Sterling jumped up onto the countertop near the stove.

"I have one thought – we need to tell them everything," Emily said with determination. She then projected the mental image of a middle finger into her general mind space, just in case he was around. Well, since he brought it up, why shouldn't she?

"Everything? How far back are we talking?" Sterling asked confused and hoping her friend would elaborate.

"Everything everything. Everything that's relevant to the immediate future." Emily responded flatly.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Yes. Because if we sit here and do nothing, Sidious mind crushes Fives when he finds out about Order 66. And THAT is just the beginning."

"True, they deserve to know."

Sterling and Emily nodded to each other in shared agreement. They both left the kitchen and strode into the living room. Sterling had squared her shoulders and looked grim. She nodded at Emily to start talking.

"I know who the Sith Lord is," Emily said.

"We know who the Sith Lord is," Sterling said adding emphasis on the "we".

"I think I know what he wanted from us too.

"So who's the Sith Lord?" Ahsoka asked

"What did he want from you two?" Anakin asked

"His name is Darth Sidious. I think he wanted us because we know things that haven't happened yet. Things that are vital to his plans," Emily explained.

"Like the future of the Jedi order and how the Clone War will end and most importantly, the fall of the Republic."

Those last words captured the full attention of their audience. Leave it to Sterling to capture the attention of a room and hold them captive with mere words.

"You all might want to sit down for this," Emily said solemnly.

"Because it's a bombshell," Sterling said

 **And done, that's it for this chapter. I couldn't resist leaving it on a cliffhanger. I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. A big shout out and thank you to my very best friend TheGirlWithFarTooManyIdeas for her help with scene bits, some dialogue and editing, so be sure to check out her stuff. So read, like and maybe drop a review and I'll see you all next time. Later, Dana.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Dana: I don't own Star Wars: The Clone Wars.**

 **Chapter 7**

"I will not hold myself responsible for panic attacks and the desire to go on a murder-filled rampage," Sterling said grimly.  
"I can only ask that you keep questions to a minimum until we've come to a pause," Emily added, her gaze sweeping between an alarmed-looking Cody, Anakin's serious expression, and a grim Rex who's look seemed to say 'I knew it'."And one question at a time. Six people talking at once is not a good thing."

Anakin exchanged a nervous look with Obi-Wan, Ahsoka and Padmé.

"...I'm dying to know, but is it a good idea to talk about it here rather than at the temple?" Anakin asked

Sterling turned to Emily and asked, "What do you wanna do Emily? Here or there?"  
"Here. Better now than later," Emily said firmly; she didn't want to talk about anything that they had to talk about where they could be overheard by Sidious. The more time they had before the master Sith realized that they were on to him, the better.  
"We'll talk about it here, Emily doesn't feel comfortable discussing this where we could be overheard by the Sith Lord. And I am in the same boat as Emily," Sterling declared.  
"Alright... wow; this is really serious," Ahsoka said, biting her lip slightly.

It suddenly struck Emily, who'd never been too sure of Ashoka's exact age, that the padawan probably wasn't much older than herself or Sterling...and she was about to learn a lot of terrible things...

Sterling leaned in and said in very serious voice; "It. Is. Emily and I know the fates of everyone in the room. We know who lives. Who will die and how people will die."

Emily shivered, this wasn't a tone she recognized in Sterling's voice. It was low and dark and rather scary. She wasn't used to Sterling taking on that tone.

"And a lot of things beyond that," Emily said simply. "When Sidious attacked me, he said he would 'open my prophetic eyes'. Maybe I'm not exactly what he thinks I am, but I DO know the future. And the future is dark. Things are grim. Mistakes have been made, and we have very little chance of fixing them."  
"We're all here. We're all listening," Rex promised.

While his voice didn't betray anything, he was feeling a little nervous. These two girls knew their fates and the war would end. Any joking around that Sterling had done had fled from her face and her normally warm hazel eyes were hard and the soft green flecks had vanished as they darkened to brown. Emily was more serene by comparison, but her blue eyes had dimmed with an eerie sadness that she had only taken on when telling stories before. Emily glanced at her friend and suppressed a shudder at the lack of emotion and hardness in Sterling's face before she left the room and returned with her computer tucked under her arm. It wasn't a face she was used to on her friend as Sterling's face was usually so expressive.

"Let's start with this – Darth Maul is alive," Emily said, deciding it was as good a place to start as ever. Since the Clone Wars were still ongoing, there was much to do.  
"What?" Obi-Wan asked, eyes widening.

Emily opened her laptop, opened Youtube and found the relevant scene. Obi-Wan's face paled a few tones as he watched.

"He takes over Mandalore, kills Satine, beats the crap out of you, Obi-Wan and then gets his ass kicked into next month by Ahsoka sometime later," Sterling said bluntly, she felt it best to be as blunt and as direct as possible. At the shocked at horrified looks being given her way; Sterling asked, "What?"

Obi-Wan gaped in horror. He and Anakin slowly turned to look at Ahsoka, with what looked like possibly pride but mostly horror in their eyes. Emily solemnly displayed the relevant video clips. Sterling even managed to dig up a few things that proved her point about Ahsoka and Maul fighting from the incomplete episodes.

"Where are my beads? I'm not wearing them?" Ahsoka asked, hand going to the beads hanging from her headdress.  
"Oh, right. That..." Sterling trailed off, as she tried to find a way to explain without getting strangled.  
"Barriss..." Emily started to explain before biting her lip. There was no easy way to explain this.  
"Look, long story short; Barriss blows up the temple, frames you for it, you get kicked out of the order, you go to trial, are nearly found guilty and subjected to the death penalty but are saved at the last minute and at the end of everything, you're offered knighthood but the incident had left you disillusioned and you refuse to go back," Sterling summarized.  
"Wait, WHAT?" Anakin shouted, leaping to his feet.

Ahsoka looked like she was about to protest, though she was derailed by the intensity of her Master's reaction. Emily smiled faintly; Anakin always took any harm to his loved ones personally.

"You heard me. But, you Anakin, believe Ahsoka is innocent and do everything in your power to prove it. You're the one who figured out Barriss was the one responsible for the bombing and bring her in before anything can happen to Ahsoka," Sterling said, maintaining an almost board-meeting style calmness in the face of all this that Emily really admired.  
"It might be easier to see the full episode, but I don't have it right with me," Emily shook her head, " Of course, all this goes back to our resident Sith," she looked uncertainly at Anakin, "but I think that needs to be seen to be believed. There are movies. I think we should get them."  
"Hang on," Sterling murmured.

She left the room and returned a few minutes later, a black laptop tucked under her arm. She sat down and typed something into it. She proceeded to hook up the computer to the TV nearby.

"I have the movies on my computer. Enjoy!"

With that faux-cheerful declaration, Sterling the bolted from the room, there was the sound of a door opening and slamming shut. Emily put it on widescreen, bowed and left the room. She leaned on a door frame and let out a breath, that was a lot harder than she had anticipated. She wasn't sure how anyone would take it but knew deep down that it needed to be done. Emily pushed off the door frame and went looking for Sterling, Her friend had to be around there somewhere.

Emily ended up searching the entire cabin, no sign of Sterling. Sterling knew the place better than anyone, if there was one person who knew good places to hide in the cabin, it would be Sterling. She checked the garage for the heck of it but she doubted Sterling would be in there. The garage was freezing and Emily wished she had her coat. She looked through the window into the RV and spotted her friend in the driver's seat.

Sterling flopped down into her usual seat in the RV. She felt drained and exhausted. She had no idea what would happen next and some part of her didn't want to know what would happen next. She leaned back in her seat and muttered:

"Oh, God."

Her ears pricked when she heard the door open and shut.

"Emily? That you?"  
"Yeah." The other brunette sank into the shotgun seat, sighing heavily.

The silence in the vehicle seemed to be oppressive and it remained that way until Sterling chuckled darkly.

"God... we're in trouble aren't we?" She asked rhetorically.  
"Well, we were just psychically attacked by one of the evilest beings in fiction which is no longer fiction, so yeah – we're in pretty deep trouble," Emily said with a faint note of hysteria as she remembered this. "That wasn't something I thought I'd ever end up saying."  
"So what now?"

Something in Emily's eyes became serene as if she'd finally run out of anxiety to feel and was simply left with rationality.

"We do what we can do to provide knowledge and theories so things won't go sideways, and pray that all the Jedi can defeat Sidious together now that they know his plan."  
"And then?"  
Emily thought about that for a moment. "I don't know. Hopefully, we can travel to home no worse for wear. Hopefully, they can bail us out of our charges, maybe under some extension of the Good Samaritan act. But nothing's set in stone until we get there."  
"What if they want to bring us to Coruscant?"

Emily wasn't entirely sure how to wrap her mind around that thought, so she said what was on her mind.

"I'm hoping that will be post-Sidious... and I'll ask Obi-Wan to speak to my parents. Force-sensitive people need to learn and understand how to control and manage their connection. Or I'll end up levitating cars the next time I'm stuck in traffic. It would be so tempting, I'm not gonna lie."

Sterling chuckled at that mental image and she understood the temptation to do that.

"Or I might end up levitating my brother out a window when I'm irritated with him," She suggested.  
"That too," Emily snickered.  
"I'd miss the guys though. If we don't have to go to Coruscant and are bailed out of our charges, how would we get back to what our lives were before the clones crashed into it?"  
"I don't know. We were never normal in the first place but this, this is a new extreme. I mean, we're Force-sensitive, I can't really see how we'd regain our lives before everything happened."  
"I know. Never normal in the first place. You know... when I was a kid, I always used to wonder if I ever belonged here... on Earth you know..."  
"Sometimes I would wonder that too. But where else would we belong? This is home."  
"I know, I know... I mean my family is here and all that but... never mind. Don't listen to me. I ramble when I'm nervous," Sterling said cutting the conversation short.

Emily frowned, it was obvious Sterling didn't want to keep talking about it. Sterling had once admitted to her that she had always wondered if she belonged elsewhere. She had associated Sterling's feelings with a form of disassociation but now... she wasn't entirely sure Sterling was wrong.

"I understand," Emily said, before flinching. Sterling sat up a little straighter in her seat, they both had sensed Anakin's shock. "And there goes Anakin. Think Padmé told him she's pregnant yet?"  
"Most likely. Though, I dread what happens

when they get to Order 66, the massacres, episode 4, 5 and 6. Well, I hope he enjoys Leia killing Jabba."  
"Yeah. And Return of the Jedi has a happy ending..."  
"At least... oh man. This is gonna be a long wait."  
"We can probably go back inside..." Emily stood up but Sterling remained seated.  
"You can if you want too. I'm gonna stay in here. I need to think."

Emily sat back down, she wasn't leaving her friend alone.

"No, I'll stay with you. It was just a thought, 'cuz it's kinda cold in here."

Sterling stood up and hopped out of the RV. She walked over to a panel on the wall and flipped a couple of switches. There was the sound of something turning on. Sterling got back into her seat and sat back down.

"The heater in the garage is on, we should warm up in a few minutes."  
"Alright."

A beat of silence before Sterling sighed.

"I don't want the guys to leave, you know."  
"I know. I get it." Emily smiled sadly, noting that the Clones tended to be more interested in her stories than Rob was. Not that he wasn't ever interested, but he frequently derailed her attempts to tell him any with 'revisions' or questioning the 'story logic', which could be pretty frustrating. None of the clones ever did that, except for occasionally Boil. "But they do have important jobs to do."  
"Yeah. I know."  
"...We didn't do so back. Rex had a birthday. Hardcase enjoyed roller coasters," Emily said in an attempt to cheer up her friend.  
"Yeah, I guess we did. They were happy," Sterling trailed off and looked sad. "We were all happy."  
"... Yeah..." Emily paused and suppressed a laugh. When Sterling looked strangely at her, she explained, "You know, I'm imagining who else might be real right now."  
"Who?"  
"Other stories like Star Wars. Y'know? Who else might be out there somewhere, for us to stumble across on a cold weekend? Lelouch would have Geassed us into telling him about R1 and R2. Rau Le Creuset would have taken it as part of his nihilism. Harry Potter would have taken it as proof that fate hated him..."  
"Oh yeah. It's true for all of them."  
"What do you think? Think we were lucky with who the universe threw at us?"  
"Possibly. I'd rather deal with the Force, clones and Jedi than anyone or anything else."  
"Yeah. I imagine if Lelouch ended up in your backyard, we would have done a lot more than harmlessly robbing a store."  
"I don't think I wanna know what we might have done."  
"I'm just wondering what we would have done because of Geass, and what we would have done simply because he spoke to us."  
"I don't know. I don't think I want to know... doesn't help that Geass scares me a little."  
"By design. By design."  
"True, the design of the power is what makes it scary. Especially in the wrong hands."  
"And put it in the hands of someone like Lulu, or worse, Rolo."

Sterling shuddered.

"It's scary to think about."  
"Yeah."

During the lull in conversation between the two girls, they both picked up on a massive wave of grief radiating through the Force. Both girls flinched.

"Oh dear."

Emily bit her lip and turned to Sterling:

"I'm guessing that's either the younglings or Padmé."  
"Or maybe Order 66."  
"It could be any of them."

Sterling leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes.

"I'm almost dreading when we have to go back in there."  
"We need to show the rest of the movies. They need to see that Sith can be redeemed." Emily insisted. That was the most important thing to her at that moment, aside from making the mechanics of Order 66 clear.  
"I set up my computer to play the movies one after another..." Sterling sat up and smacked her forehead. "Oh crap!"  
"What?"  
"Rogue One is on that playlist too."  
"Oh..." There was a beat of silence before Emily shrugged. "In for a penny, in for a pound."  
"Why do I get the feeling I'm gonna hear screaming when Rogue One comes on?"  
"I guess we'll see."

Neither girl spoke for a few hours, both lost in their myriad of thoughts. Sterling looked up when she sensed the wave of grief and shock pass over her.

"Think the got to Rogue One yet?"  
"Well, I cried at the end of that so... quite possibly."  
"I cried too."  
"Huh. You know, Galen Erso may be alive right now."  
"Possibly. Perhaps events can be changed."  
"That's hopefully the point of all this."  
"Indeed."

The two girls fell into comfortable silence again. They both remained in their seats for several more hours, small conversations cropping up every now and again but they always fell back into silence. Sterling's ears pricked when she heard the door to the RV open. It was Rex. A rather pale and grim-faced Captain Rex walked in.

Watching the movies had been hard on him and the others. Fives had requested in a very shaky voice that he go get the girls. He remembered seeing Waxer, Boil and General Kenobi trying to comfort a very distressed Cody and Wolffe and the rest of the pack trying to get a panicking Warthog to calm down. General Skywalker had been a wreck and Senator Amidala and Commander Tano had been trying to comfort him, assuring him that nothing had happened to either of them yet. He remembered seeing Thire, Jek and Rys sitting on the couch, arms around their Lieutenant as Thire shook slightly. Kix had been holding Jesse and Fives had been holding Echo. Razor had been holding a shaking Stak and Ponds looked like he was out for blood.

"Rex, how are you managing?" Emily asked with concern.  
"I need a stiff drink. The Generals, the Commander, the Senator and well... everyone wants to see you both."  
"Right, we're coming."

Emily felt Sterling's fear spike suddenly, she hoped it wasn't another attack.

"You can go in. I'm not going in there, I fear for my life."

Rex and Emily exchanged looks.

"No one's going to hurt you," Emily said firmly.  
"I'm not worried about the boys," Sterling said, unconsciously rubbing her neck.

Darth Vader had scared the crap out of her as a kid and that fear was still kicking around as it seemed. Even though it was rather irrational, it was still there. And, not to mention her anxiety over Sidious' attack wasn't helping matters either.

"Don't worry about General Skywalker. He isn't going to go Vader on you. He's not in good shape really," Rex said.  
"I trust you, Rex," Sterling said before sighing, "Que Dieu nous protège. Let's go."

Rex leaned in and whispered to Emily:  
"What did she say?"

The brunette shrugged helplessly.

"I dunno. My French teacher was terrible."  
"I said may God protect us, Rex," Sterling explained.  
"I see."

The trio walked back into the cabin and into the living room. Fives and most of the others looked drained. Cody's eyes were rimmed with red like he had been crying. Anakin was slumped in one of the chairs, Padmé at his side and whispering reassurances, gently squeezing his hand to remind him that she was right here and would not abandon him. Obi-Wan looked like he wanted to get drunk, while Ahsoka had given up on despair and was pacing anxiously.

"Let's just say I'm more afraid than I let on right now. You okay Fives?" Sterling asked

Fives smiled weakly at her.

"I'll manage."

Sterling's face softened when she got close to him. She gently placed a hand on his cheek and pulled him into a hug. Fives wrapped his arms around her and held on, his hands finding purchase in the material of her sweater, burying his face in her hair and neck. Sterling lightly rubbed his back, feeling his shoulders trembling. Sterling reached out, hand wrapping around a wrist and dragged Echo into the hug as well, speaking in a soft voice as she comforted them both. She pulled away from the ARCs and asked:

"Boys, are you all okay?"  
"As okay as we can be, knowing what's in our heads," Cody rasped.

Sterling walked over to him and hugged him, pulling Waxer and Boil in as well. She made her way around the room, hugging each trooper, letting some of them cry on her shoulder and speaking quiet reassurances, saying that they weren't stormtroopers and never would be. Hands and voice gentle as she spoke, touching faces and arms gently. Emily watched as her friend did this, glad her friend knew the right words to give to each man. Emily couldn't help but hide her snort, Sterling had often described herself as awkward and bad around people except for Emily herself, this was not the case.

"I'm sorry," Sterling said.  
"Don't apologize. If you hadn't told us, it would have been too late to do anything about this," Ponds said, he wasn't upset at either Sterling or Emily.

He understood that this might not have been an easy thing to bring up and discuss since they had only just met. He doubted had Sterling or Emily talked about this after their first meeting, neither he nor his brothers would have believed them.

"To put it mildly," Obi-Wan said.

He was troubled, these revelations were deeply distressing on several levels. He knew that the council would need to act quickly in order to prevent the events he had witnessed. He also knew the council would need to see the movies in order for their words to be believed. Obi-Wan was now very convinced that these girls would need to be taken to the temple, not only for their own protection but for them to relay everything that they had shown him.

"Are you alright Master?" Anakin asked, glancing over at Obi-Wan. His words during A New Hope frequently rang in his head. My dearest friend, a good man...

Obi-Wan glanced at him; shooting him a look that seemed to ask: "I should be asking you this." Obi-Wan cleared his throat and said with some authority:

"We need to relay all of this to the council. And to that end... Sterling, Emily, I have to request that you accompany us to the Temple."  
"Je le savait. Je te l'avait dit Emily," Sterling muttered under her breath.  
"I understood that first bit as "I knew it" but I didn't quite understand the second part," Emily murmured.  
"I said I told you so."  
"Of course." Emily acknowledged, her lips twitching into a small smile.  
"Can I ask why we need to

go to the Temple?" Sterling asked, looking up at the Masters.  
"Proof. And protection. I agree that it was Sidious who attacked you both and he won't like having his plans being waylaid," Obi-Wan said.  
"Indeed. What do you want to do Emily? I know you won't want to be away from your family but I know for certain I'm going and I doubt they'll force you to come if you don't want too. But Obi-Wan is right, we can't exactly protect ourselves and if Sidious attacks again, we might not be able to drive him off a second time," Sterling said.  
"I know. That's not really a question, is it? He's an ancient evil Sith Lord... and we didn't have powers until a couple of days ago. I'm going. But... I just have one request... can I tell my family where I'm going and why?" Emily asked, lacing her fingers together.  
"I think we can do that," Padmé said.  
"Thank you."  
"You're welcome Emily," Padmé said smiling.  
"We will also inform the council that we found the men and that we are bringing you both along with us," Obi-Wan said.  
"We'd better go get our stuff then," Rex said.

The clones all stood up and went to get their armour, the various prizes, and the card decks. Emily jumped up and down slightly as a wide smile slipped onto her face, glee finally replacing uncertainty and dread.

"We're going to the freaking Jedi Temple!" Emily cheered.  
"Yep," Sterling said. "And we're going to meet the Jedi council too."  
"We're going to meet Yoda!"  
"Yep. And possibly Grand Moff Asshole."  
"Buzzkill." Emily frowned at the reminder as she knew who Sterling was talking about.  
"If you're going to insult me, come up with something I haven't heard yet."

Internally, Emily flinched at Sterling's harsh tone and at her words.

"I didn't mean it like that," Emily said.

She hadn't meant for Sterling to take the buzzkill comment as an insult, it was more friendly teasing. Emily then visibly flinched when she remembered that Sterling had a hard time telling friendly teasing from malicious teasing.

"Oh. Okay." Sterling relaxed a bit.  
"It's true we might end up running into him. Ugh." Emily's eyes brightened just as quickly as they had dimmed as she realized Sterling did have a point. "But I'm gonna meet Yoda. Gonna meet Yoda!"  
"I, personally, am looking forward to seeing the library," Sterling said patting Emily's shoulder.

Emily rolled her eyes, they were going to the Jedi Temple and were going to meet Yoda and the only thing Sterling seemed excited about was seeing the library. But she shouldn't be too surprised, Sterling was about as bookish as Hermione Granger. Emily was starting to get giddy just by imagining all she was going to see. The clones returned, clothes tucked under their arms and their armour back on. Anakin stood up and told everyone to return to the ship. Emily darted ahead and was asking question after question. Sterling hung back, walking behind Cody and Obi-Wan. She was within ear range when she heard Cody whisper:

"Oh General, Emily knows about... the incident because Kix opened his big mouth and told everyone."  
Obi-Wan paled significantly. "Oh no, does Sterling know?"  
"She was asleep."  
"What's the incident?" Sterling asked, blinking at having missed something.  
"Nothing," Cody and Obi-Wan responded at the same time.

Sterling made a mental note to ask Emily about the so-called "incident" because it obviously wasn't nothing. Her best friend's pale attempts at whistling innocently and pretending not to have noticed the exchange while she packed her computer just made her more determined to know. Later, at least.

"Tell me Obi-Wan, how big is the library?"  
"Very big," Obi-Wan said with a chuckle  
"If I vanish for a few hours, check the library first. I'll most likely be there."  
"You enjoy reading?"  
"Oh yeah. My family are a bunch of bibliophiles, books and reading have been a big part of my life since I was a kid."

As the group headed to the ship, Emily couldn't help but squeak, which caused Anakin to smile for the first time since watching the movies. The revelation that the Chancellor, his friend and someone he trusted was a Sith Lord was hard to process because he thought he knew the man. To know that someone you had thought was a good person and who you thought wasn't capable of being evil was... well... it was hard. He wondered how he hadn't been able to see it, Sterling and Emily had known who it was even from a distance. He overheard Sterling telling Rex that when she had watched Attack of the Clones for the first time, she suspected Sidious had been the Chancellor the entire time.

Sterling nodded approvingly at the ship as soon as she saw it.

"Nice. How long did it take to build that? The engineering is fantastic," Sterling said.  
"We're on a real friggin spaceship. A SPACESHIP! And you're going on about the engineering?" Emily asked, faintly exasperated her friend was seemingly determined to miss the craziest part of this trip.  
"It's me. What were you expecting?" Sterling asked with a faint smile.  
"True. Can I watch us leave the atmosphere?" Emily almost begged, her smile making her seem several years younger.

Rex couldn't help but smile himself; Emily frequently seemed so tired and severe that seeing her smile like this was warming.

"Of course, you both can do so," Padmé said, admiring Emily's enthusiasm.  
"I get the feeling things are going to be really interesting around the Temple with these two girls around," Ahsoka observed.

Emily smiled shyly at Ahsoka. It was still a little disorienting to look straight at Ahsoka. Emily felt like she was receding into her seven-year-old self who had just seen A New Hope for the first time. It didn't help that she was ever so slightly bi-curious, and admired the padawan's badass capabilities a great deal. Sterling leaned on the wall of the ship next to Rex.

"What's Coruscant like?" Sterling asked.

Rex chuckled at her and then waved Thire over.

"She wants to know what Coruscant is like. You work there so you know it better than I do," Rex said.

Thire huffed out a laugh and began talking/ranting about his experience as a guard. Talking about the people he met and who he worked with. The ramp closed and Anakin let the ship take off into the air – causing Emily to shriek with glee, stuttering something about 'regressing into a five-year-old' before promptly dismissing such pettiness in favour of running for a window.

Sterling couldn't resist teasing Anakin a little;

"Please don't crash on landing Anakin."  
"That's never going to go away is it?" Anakin sighed, exasperated.  
"Never." The brunette assured him.

Ahsoka and Obi-Wan laughed and Rex hid his chuckles behind a cough.

"I'm surrounded by a bunch of smart asses," Anakin muttered.

They went to Emily's first, landing outside her mother's house. As she disembarked, she froze on the ramp, doubts and fear raging through her head. She looked anxiously at Obi-Wan, fear written in her eyes. He gently placed a calming hand on her shoulder and she led him and Anakin inside. Sterling remained on the ship, as much as she wanted to go in there, she felt that it might make things worse. The news reports had painted her as the ringleader for everything and Sterling didn't want there to be a confrontation. Sterling and Rex stood side by side, looking out the viewport as Emily began to unlock the door. Rex looked apprehensive.

"Hey, it'll be okay," Sterling said.  
"I'm not sure about how to interact with family. Brothers, yes. But... mothers? Fathers? Not so much."

Sterling reached out and touched his arm gently.

"I don't know how that feels and I never will but, all I can say is that they're people, just like you and me. So, treat them as such," Sterling said.

She watched as Emily and the Jedi had been brought inside - so Emily's mother couldn't be THAT angry. Her friend had always described her parents as having long tempers and being quick to forgive when she got upset. Sure, Emily had never done this before; she'd always (barring her lower moments) been a good girl because upsetting her parents was never worth it. Sterling sighed, she was torn between visiting her own family and not seeing them. She rubbed her arms, even though her sweater was warm, she still felt cold. Ponds appeared to her right, looking a little confused.

"I would have thought you'd have gone in with her," Ponds remarked, having walked over to join them.  
"I didn't want to make things awkward. Doesn't help that I've been painted as the ringleader of our activities. Though I do have to admit, it feels good to do something my sister hasn't," Sterling said.  
"Do you miss her? Your sister I mean?" Ponds asked, brow furrowed. There weren't any female clones, so this put the concept of 'sister' alongside that of 'mother' and 'father' as something he didn't quite grasp.  
"Sometimes. But... she and I have been drifting away from each other a lot. Since she started high school... things have been changing."

Sterling stuck close to the clones while Emily and the Jedi were talking, she felt comfortable around them. There was something about these men that was far more reassuring than anyone in her family. Eventually, Emily came back. She was talking with Padmé.

"How'd it go?" Sterling asked when her friend walked onto the ship.  
"Better than I expected, I'll admit to that," Emily said, looking relieved.

Sterling nodded and began playing with the drawstrings of her hoodie. She still hadn't made her decision on whether it was a good idea to see her family, she still wasn't sure if it was a good idea.

"Sterling, do you want to see your family?" Padmé asked.  
"I don't know," Sterling answered honestly.  
"I think it would be wise," Emily said encouragingly.  
"Are you sure?" Sterling asked, brow furrowed.  
"Hey, I did it and the world didn't end, even though I kind of expected it to when I finally made it to the front step - I swear, Anakin had to keep me from running away. You

shouldn't vanish to another galaxy without at least dropping a note," Emily reasoned.  
"Touché. Well then, let's pay my family a visit."

Emily gave her friend a nod and gently squeezed Sterling's arm. As the ship was in flight, Sterling felt more and more nervous. Her anxiety was continuing to climb higher. Sterling hummed Globus' Doomsday under her breath as she tapped out the rhythm on the walls. Padmé shot Emily a concerned look:

"Is everything okay with Sterling, Emily?" The Senator asked  
"She's anxious," Emily said simply before turning to her friend, "It'll be okay Sterling."  
"Yeah, tell that to my anxiety," Sterling muttered.

Sterling seemed to sense Anakin before she saw him. She waved at him when he entered the area occupied by Sterling, Emily and Padmé. Emily gave Sterling a look that she hoped was encouraging.

"Yes, Master Skywalker?" Sterling asked

Anakin sat down next to Padmé and sighed. He was searching for something to say, he wasn't entirely sure how to allay Sterling's fears, the last time he saw his mother was... well... wasn't under the best of circumstances but he needed to say something at least.

"I haven't seen much of my mother. When I got a chance to find her, she was... well. I'm sorry I left most of the talking to Obi-Wan, Emily," Anakin said.  
"I never did ask how the conversation with your family went Emily. Can I ask how it went?"  
"It... wasn't as bad as I expected. Mom was mostly worried, said that I would never do something like rob a store just because I felt like it. She thought I was been kidnapped and extorted, actually!"  
"I'm glad she wasn't angry," Sterling said with some relief.  
"She nearly beaned poor Anakin with a flower pot," Emily said, nudging Anakin.  
"Pics or it didn't happen."  
"Sorry, I didn't think to pull out my phone," Emily giggled.  
"Wasn't funny for me," Anakin muttered, wincing slightly.  
"Drat. Would have liked to have seen that."  
"Heh, sorry."  
"It's alright. Did you tell her about the whole Force-sensitivity thing?"  
"Yeah, I think if Obi-Wan hadn't demonstrated the power a second later, mom would have added "kidnapped by a cult" to her list of concerns."  
"Dear God," Sterling muttered.  
"But she's alright. I mean, she's pretty anxious about the implications, but Obi-Wan promised he and Anakin would protect me and you."  
"That's good," Sterling sighed. "I have no clue what I'm gonna tell my family."  
"The same thing that was told Emily's family. Obi-Wan will do most of the talking, again," Anakin said

Sterling nodded.

"Just be ready for my brother and sister," she said.  
"Do I want to know what that means?" Anakin asked raising an eyebrow  
"Let's just say Ash and Rupert are going to have a lot of questions and will be asking for demonstrations. Especially Rupert. Ash, on the other hand, will be blunt and direct in her questioning."

Anakin smirked, he remembered the way Sterling's sister had spoken and asked questions. Sterling picked up on his thoughts, just barely.

"You met Ash didn't you?" Sterling asked, surprised. What were the chances of that?  
"Yeah, she was the first person we found who knew you actually. She was rather hoping we'd find you actually," Padmé said.  
"Really?" Sterling asked, a little incredulously.  
"Yeah, she said she missed you," Anakin said a little surprised.  
"Yeah... Ash and I started growing apart a few years ago. I mean, I was kind of expecting it. We're still sort of close but not as close as before."  
"Yeah, I know. You said the rift between you and Ash will be the size of an entire galaxy," Emily said.  
"Oh, God. I am so damn nervous."

Emily reached out and placed her hand on Sterling's own.

"Hey, it'll be okay." She insisted. If you said something enough times, you would start to believe it, after all.  
"I hope so. How long until we get to my house?"  
"Ten minutes," Anakin said.  
"Okay."  
"Hey, you get to see your siblings freak out over the Force. Rob wasn't there to be impressed," Emily said with a fond smile.  
"Was he out with his friends?"  
"Yeah, he was."

There was a silent, slightly resentful "as usual" buried in that remark, though clearly, Emily was looking forward to impressing him with Force powers at some point in the future. Sterling huffed out a laugh before sighing:

"I am so going to get slapped by Ash when I get home."  
"No one is going to get hit. This is a diplomatic incident," Anakin said calmly.  
"Tell that to my sister. She's not afraid of slapping anyone."  
"No one is getting slapped," Emily insisted.  
"If you want to get between her and me when she's about to slap me, be my guest."

The ship dipped down, signalling to Sterling that they had arrived. Sterling stood up and stretched.

"Okay, here goes nothing," She muttered

They all stood up and exited the ship. They were joined by Rex and Ponds. Sterling shot them all grateful looks. Ponds rested his hand on Sterling's shoulder as they walked up the stairs to Sterling's house. Sterling hummed the opening stanza to Styx' Renegade under her breath as she pulled out her key to unlock the door. Once the door was unlocked, she opened it and stepped inside.

"I'm home," She called out timidly as she ushered everyone inside.

Obi-Wan entered on Sterling's right, recalling what he had told Emily's mother while Anakin was being wary of other flower pots.

"Hello?" Sterling called. "The car's here, people should be home."

There was a sound and a woman Obi-Wan assumed was Sterling's mother appeared from downstairs.

"Hi mom," Sterling said simply.

Emily swallowed nervously, part of her wanted to run back to the ship and hide but she remembered that she had told Sterling that she'd stay and support her friend. Sterling squared her shoulders and walked up the stairs, Ponds following her, hand never leaving her shoulder. Sterling and her mother immediately began speaking in rapid-fire French. Anakin leaned in and whispered to Emily:

"What are they saying?"  
"No idea," Emily said apologetically; her French education had been awful.  
"You guys can come up," Sterling said after a moment.

Emily, Rex, Anakin and Obi-Wan made their way up the stairs. It was at that moment a teenage girl and a preteen boy came down the stairs leading to the second-floor, Anakin recognized Ash and assumed the boy was Rupert.

"Ash, Rupert, good to see you both," Sterling greeted.  
"So you did bring her back," Ash said addressing Anakin.  
"Like I promised."

A pause.

"Thank you," Ash said eventually.  
"You're welcome."  
"Who are you? You look like Anakin Skywalker and he looks like Obi-Wan Kenobi," Rupert said.  
"How did you know our names?" Anakin asked  
"The movies General. Most people know your names," Rex said.  
"Wait... you're Anakin Skywalker?" Ash asked incredulously. At Anakin's nod, she turned to her sister and shouted:

"STERLING!"  
"Shit," Sterling muttered

Obi-Wan sighed and hoped to nip a possible fight in the bud and proceeded to lift up Sterling's cat with the Force. The grey animal was not impressed, yowling loudly and ensuring all eyes were on him. The reactions were fairly instant.

"Whoa! Teach me your ways!" Rupert shouted.  
"What are you doing to my cat?!" Ash demanded.  
"Obi-Wan, put my cat down," Sterling requested calmly.

Obi-Wan did so and the cat bit his leg. His teeth didn't get through the material of Obi-Wan's boots but he still yelped in surprise.

"Good kitty," Ash said with a grin.

Anakin snickered and Obi-Wan shot him a glare.

"Not funny Anakin," Obi-Wan muttered  
"A little funny, it's not every day you see the great Obi-Wan Kenobi being bested by a house cat," Emily said pointed out.

While everyone was distracted, Ash made her way to her older sister and slapped her upside the head. She moved to slap Sterling again but Sterling was faster, spinning in place and grabbed her sister by the wrist before the second slap could make contact.

"What the fuck Ashley?" Sterling asked, a low growl entering her voice.  
"You disappeared! Then you were all over the news for stealing an RV and robbing a mall! I thought you had gone nuts!" Ash shouted, moving to slap her sister with her free hand.  
"Well, what else was I supposed to do? Let the clones keep walking around in their armour? Like that wouldn't have attracted attention from the government. And it's not like we have room to house twenty clone troopers here. What would you have done in my shoes hmm? What would you have done Ashley?" Sterling asked, snarling a little as she caught the other hand flying towards her face.

Sterling never used Ash's full name, outside of being really mad. Ash screwed up her face and growled:

"I would have had you trust us."

Sterling tossed back her head and laughed darkly. It sent chills down Ponds' and Rex's spines, Sterling's laughter was normally warm and contagious, this laughter reminded Rex of General Grievous laughing as he cut down clone after clone.

"There was no one to trust. I don't trust the guys in charge of running this country. And it's not that I didn't trust you Ash, but this is far bigger than either Emily or I could have anticipated. Much less planned for at that," Sterling spat, eyes narrowing into sharp slits.  
"Someone very dangerous is trying to keep Sterling and Emily from giving the Jedi council important information. He may very well attempt to kill them next. I'm sorry, but we need to travel with haste," Anakin said, cutting in. He wanted to get back into space as soon as possible.  
"None of us know when he will strike next, it's best that we take them to where they can be protected," Obi-Wan added.  
"Why the Hell would a Sith Lord be interested in you and Emily?" Ash asked, visibly baffled.  
"Because of the movies. We know what he's going to do... and... we just became part of the Force," Emily said.  
"What?" Ash asked flatly.  
"Emily and I are Force-sensitive Ash," Sterling said bluntly, releasing her sister.  
"I'm not sure how to make anything float on command, but... it's

true. I awakened my powers and Sidious tried to seduce me. Then he tried to attack me when I wouldn't join him. If he wasn't so far away and if Sterling hadn't been there to help pull me away, he probably would have succeeded," Emily said.  
"He attacked me too," Sterling added.

Her mother's gaze flickered between Sterling and Emily; like she was trying to assure herself that yes, all of this was real. Sterling gave a short nod with pursed lips.

"They'll be safer at the Jedi Temple. He won't sit on this failure for long," Anakin said.  
"Are you going to train them?" Rupert asked, looking envious.  
"At least enough so they can manage their abilities on their own," Obi-Wan said.  
"Lightsabers too?" Ash asked.  
"Are you kidding? I'd cut my own my own arm off," Emily joked.  
"You and Sterling would be significantly cooler with lightsabers though," Ash said.  
"Heh... you're probably right," Emily looked thoughtful.  
"You probably won't cut your arm off. Sterling on the other hand just might," Ash said  
"No need for that," Ponds said, tightening his grip on Sterling's shoulder  
"Thanks for the vote of confidence little sister," Sterling said dryly but there was hurt reflecting in her eyes.  
"And you are?" Ash asked noticing Ponds for the first time.  
"Can I just ask one question?" Sterling mother asked, speaking up for the first time, "Can you promise she'll be safe?"  
"Yes. We promise, both girls will be safe," Obi-Wan said.  
"I'm sorry to cut this short but we need to go. Time is of the essence," Anakin said clapping his hands together.  
"Alright. This is goodbye for now," Sterling said.  
"We'll be alright," Emily said  
"I know," Sterling said before giving her family a short salute. "Let's go."

Sterling waved as she left the house before she boarded the ship and sat down.

"Well that went over well," Sterling said rubbing the back of her head.

Emily, on the other hand, was practically vibrating in her seat, she was so excited.

"We're gonna go to the Jedi Temple!" She squealed.  
"I'm not sure if I'm excited or nervous," Sterling said  
"I feel like I'm gonna faint. We're gonna stand in front of Yoda and Windu and – and – and we're gonna meet them! They're going to TALK to us!"  
"Oh, God. I hope I don't mess up."

Emily tapped her feet on the floor. Both girls could feel the ship lift off the ground. Emily squealed and ran to the viewport. Sterling followed her at a slower pace.

"Oh my God, we're entering the atmosphere – we're going into space!"  
"Wow. So many stars," Sterling said.

Emily squeaked again. She was in space, she had always wanted to go into space. Anakin walked by and smiled at the two girls who were squeaking and staring out at the stars.

"Pretty impressive huh?" Anakin asked  
"This is so cool!" Emily cheered.

Sterling didn't say anything, she just looked out at the stars. A look of pure wonder filled her face but there was also an air of apprehension in her eyes. She was still rather nervous.

"Just wait until you two see Coruscant," Anakin said.

Emily squeaked again and bounced in place. Sterling turned to face her companions. She nodded her head.

"Sorry if I'm so quiet. I'm just a little nervous," Sterling confessed.

Anakin nodded as he remembered his first arrival at the Temple. Everything had been new and different. He could understand why the young teenager in front of him would be nervous. She was probably still reeling from Sidious' attack and the revelation that she was indeed Force-sensitive.

"I know and I understand what you're feeling. Try not to worry too much alright? You are welcome in the galaxy," Anakin said.

Anakin felt like he was being pinned down with the look Sterling was giving him. It was one of pure surprise; "had no one ever told her she was welcome anywhere?" Anakin wondered to himself. Sterling moved quickly and flung both arms around his waist in a tight hug.

"Will you be there?" Sterling asked, voice slightly muffled

Anakin took a step back and looked surprised. He glanced at Emily but she looked as surprised as he did. Sterling wasn't one for sudden bouts of physical affection, and she hardly ever initiated physical contact. Sterling hated to be touched by people, she barely even tolerated being touched by her family. The only person whose touch she seemed to like was Emily's and as of recently, that of the clones. When Anakin picked up on those thoughts, he smiled a little.

"Yeah, of course. So will Obi-Wan and Ahsoka," Anakin said.  
"Good," Sterling said pulling away.  
"Is everything alright in here?" Obi-Wan asked poking his head in  
"We're in space! I know that makes me sound like the Space Core from Portal 2 but I never thought I'd get to go to space!" Emily gushed  
"Space Core from Portal 2?" Obi-Wan and Anakin asked simultaneously.  
"It's a puzzle video game. The Space Core is basically a tiny droid that's obsessed with space and that's its entire dialogue," Emily explained rubbing her head.  
"Interesting. Can you show me?" Anakin asked  
"I, um, don't have WiFi in space. Unfortunately," Emily said.  
"WiFi?" Anakin asked  
"Internet connection," Emily explained, wondering if she should have called it the Holonet to save time.  
"Ah."  
"I apologize ladies, but I need to borrow Anakin for a bit," Obi-Wan said. "But we must inform the council that we are returning to Coruscant with you and the men. We'll be back in a bit."  
"Okay," Emily said.

Anakin and Obi-Wan smiled and turned to leave. Once they were gone, Emily giggled like she'd had a few too many cookies and turned to Sterling.

"We're going to Coruscant! Hee!" Emily squealed.

The fact that all this was real was beginning to make her giddy. There were so many things she wanted to see and experience she wasn't sure where she'd even start.

"I know," Sterling said, a faint smile gracing her features.

As they were making their way to the communication room were Ahsoka was waiting for them, Obi-Wan turned to Anakin and asked:

"How are those girls?"  
"Emily seems pretty excited. Sterling is still nervous though."

Obi-Wan nodded, he could understand why she was nervous.

"It's understandable. But they'll be alright."  
"We'll make sure of that," Anakin said.  
"Indeed we will. And who knows, we might end up making Jedi out of them," Obi-Wan said.  
"Master Yoda will say that they're too old," Anakin said wryly.  
"Most likely. But he will not be able to deny that they will need training considering that they were both attacked by a Sith Lord."  
"Of course, I'm just saying, expect a lot of hemming and hawing on the matter."  
"I am very aware of that. But who knows, we might end up convincing some of them."  
"Obi-Wan Kenobi, suggesting a departure from order doctrine. This needs to go on the calendar," Anakin said, grinning.  
"Very funny. It's not like you don't do it all the time," Obi-Wan said as he and Anakin entered the communication room.

Ahsoka raised one of her eye markings at the conversation.

"But Skyguy's never been a stickler! You are!"  
"Those movies opened my eyes Ahsoka," Obi-Wan sighed. "I realize now that some things within the code must be changed if we are to survive."

Anakin nodded, Obi-Wan was right about that. He hoped that the part about attachments could be changed, that way he could be married to Padmé openly. Obi-Wan picked up on Anakin's thoughts and smirked.

"Oh and Anakin, I will leave you to inform the council about your relationship with Padmé," Obi-Wan said.  
"We'll do it together," Anakin said nodding in agreement. Knowing he had his former Master's unconditional support on the matter made the idea much easier to face.  
"I wish you both the best of luck. I get the feeling you will need it."

Anakin laughed sarcastically and rolled his eyes. Obi-Wan smirked and Ahsoka shook her head.

"Shall we comm the council?" Ahsoka asked  
"Here goes," Anakin muttered.

Obi-Wan pressed a couple of buttons on the comm, and after a few seconds, a holographic image of the Jedi council appeared. Anakin, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka bowed.

"Masters," Obi-Wan greeted.

There was a squeaking noise that could be heard on the other side of the closed door. Mace Windu exchanged a look with Obi-Wan as he asked:

"Who or what was that?"  
"I think one of our guests tripped on her way to get a snack," Anakin said, sensing Emily.

He suppressed an amused smile at her attempt at eavesdropping before saying:

"There's much to talk of."  
"You found your men then?" Shaak Ti asked. "How are they?"  
"Healthy and Hale," Anakin said, nodding towards Rex.  
"That is good news," Shaak sounded genuinely relieved.  
"You're on your way back then?" Mace asked, all business as usual.  
"Yes. However, we have been exposed to some revelations of great consequence," Obi-Wan said.  
"Please continue Obi-Wan," Mace's brow was furrowed slightly, clearly unsure of what could have happened on the dark end of the galaxy that could be so important.

Obi-Wan took a deep breath before he spoke:

"Firstly, we found our men with two young women native to the planet Earth. The older of the two had an Awakening of Force-sensitivity a two days before we caught up with them. The younger one also had her awakening a few hours later."

There was momentary silence as the other Masters processed this.

"So we are dealing with new Force-sensitives then?" Mace asked.  
"Yes, they are both Force-sensitive. And we haven't done a midi-chlorian count just yet but they are both powerful with strong presences. Presences that are strong enough for our Sith Lord friend to find them and assault them through the Force."

The silence that followed Obi-Wan's words lingered before Stass Allie shouted:

"They were assaulted by a Sith Lord? Are they alright?"

Her healer's instincts flew into high gear with those words. Looks of concern flashed across the faces of multiple council members. Even Mace and Yoda looked worried, being assaulted by a Sith Lord was concerning enough.

"There was enough distance between

them that they were able to escape him. They're still a little shaken up though. Of course, I doubt he will be satisfied by that and will try to attack them again," Obi-Wan explained grimly. In truth, he was surprised that the Sith hadn't already attempted to do so.  
"I don't doubt that. He will try again. Any idea why he would attack them?" Mace asked  
"They knew a lot of inconvenient things about him and his plans. He said something to one of them that implies she may possess a dormant precognitive sense. I don't think it's safe for us to really explain over an open line where someone could overhear, but we've brought them with us so they can testify in front of the council," Anakin said.  
"That would do it," Kit Fisto muttered.  
"What can you tell us about these two girls?" Plo Koon asked  
"From what our men have told us, one's a storyteller and the other is a card shark," Anakin said.

Rex smiled fondly and dipped his head in agreement.

"A storyteller and a card shark. Interesting combination. Mind telling me who's who in this?" Shaak asked.  
"How about you ask her," Anakin chuckled. "You can come in, Emily."

There were two seconds of silence before the doors slid open; revealing a blushing Emily who looked mortally embarrassed about getting caught. There was no sign of Sterling anywhere. Rex suppressed a smile, leaned in and whispered:

"Busted."

Emily shot him a betrayed look and slowly walked into the room, her blush deepening.

"Where's Sterling?" Ahsoka asked. "I thought she'd be with you. Or is she with one of the guys?"  
"Last I saw her, she was talking with Thire," Emily's face was as red as Ahsoka's shirt and her voice squeaked as she talked. There were holograms of the actual Jedi Council in front of her. Eep.

"I'm sorry."  
"Are you the card shark or the storyteller?" Shaak asked  
"I-I'm the storyteller, I'm only really good at one card game," Emily squeaked.

The brunette was terrified, she had no idea what she was doing at all. She wished Sterling was there but her friend had wanted to gather as much information about where she was going as possible. Stupid Sterling.

"If I may ask, how did your companion earn the title of "card shark"?" Kit asked gently, hoping not to scare the girl in front of him anymore.  
"You don't need to be afraid," Stass said.

Emily smiled nervously and giggled a little, fighting the urge to bolt from the room. Rex's presence helped a little.

"She got the title because she beat Commander Cody at... Sabacc was it?" Emily asked Rex  
"Yeah," Rex said nodding.

Obi-Wan blinked, turning towards them.

"I'm sorry, I must not have heard you correctly but Sterling beat Cody at Sabacc? Luminara couldn't beat him and she's the best Sabacc player I know."  
"She did," Emily said nodding. "That's why she's the card shark."  
"How long did the game last?" Shaak asked curiously.  
"An hour and a half I think. Or was it longer?" Emily asked, trying to think back.  
"Two hours give or take. That's how long the game lasted, it just took a while to get everyone eliminated. Sterling is one stubborn lady. About as stubborn as you General Skywalker," Rex said.  
"Two hours?" Anakin asked. "I don't think stubborn begins to cover it at this point."  
"Yeah... that's Sterling for you," Emily said.  
"She must be a very determined young woman then," Shaak mused.

Emily nodded, Sterling was pretty determined when she wanted something. Stass grinned widely as she spoke:

"It appears we might have found someone to challenge Luminara masters."  
"Obi-Wan mentioned that you and your friend; Sterling was it, were attacked by a Sith Lord. Can you tell us what happened?" Plo asked

Emily shivered and Rex placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"It happened... well... one moment I was starting to suggest something, then it was like someone had pulled me from my body and plunged me into darkness. It was cold... and his voice hurt. He went after my insecurities, my fears; he told me he could make me strong," Emily managed, locking her fingers together as she spoke.  
"What happened next?" Stass asked gently.  
"Then I heard Sterling talking, calling my name. I stumbled around in the dark looking for her, I remember her saying she couldn't see and then there was light, I think she made it. We both started running but then he grabbed me and tried to pull me back but Sterling... Sterling... she pulled me towards her and ended up pulling me away from him and we started running again. I also remembered that Sith only empowers themselves. And then I woke up."

Rex's thumb moved in soothing strokes on Emily's shoulders, keeping her grounded. Mace frowned at her and asked:

"You're friend Sterling gave you light? How did she do it?"

Emily trembled, when she thought about it, she wasn't entirely sure how the light had come about. Fortunately, Ahsoka stepped in and answered for her.

"Master Skywalker thinks they may have a Force bond; Sterling might have managed to use that to offset the weight of the Dark Side."  
"A Force bond you, Master Skywalker?" Yoda asked  
"I haven't done any examinations, but giving their closeness, I'd say it's our best guess," Anakin said.  
"It's as good a guess as any at the moment," Adi Gallia said.  
"How long have you and Sterling known each other?" Mace asked  
"A few years now," Emily said. "My best guess is seven years, give or take."  
"A Force bond is a good guess. We will do a more thorough examination once you reach Coruscant," Mace said.  
"May we speak with Sterling? I wish to hear her version of the events," Plo said.

Emily nodded and turned on her heel to fetch her friend. She was still a little shaky in remembrance of Sidious' attack. Shaak bit her lip as she watched the young human leave, her fear and apprehension were easily felt in the Force.

"The poor girl. I hope we haven't frightened her too badly," Shaak said.  
"She'll recover as long as we ensure Sidious cannot attack again," Mace said.  
"We will have to teach them to shield their minds. In case he attacks again when they're here," Kit said.

Anakin nodded in agreement.

"Should we train them with lightsabers too?" Ahsoka asked curiously. "In case Sidious attacks them in the open?"  
"It would be better to keep them in the temple. If they do know who Sidious is and more, we won't have time to train them to defend themselves from a Sith of his power before he moves again," Mace said.  
"We might not have a choice in the matter Mace. Sidious is a Sith Lord, he will not fight fair. There is nothing saying that he won't infiltrate the Temple and kill them. They will need to know how to defend themselves," Plo argued.  
"I'm not arguing that. I just don't know how we'll be able to impart the skill they will need in time," Mace explained, arms crossed over his chest.  
"I could take one of them, I don't go into the field as often as say, Skywalker or Kenobi. And you could take the other Mace... you're here at the Temple more than most of us aside Master Yoda," Stass said.  
"That sounds reasonable," Mace said with a nod.  
"I can take Emily, Mace. Even from here I can tell she's got more of a healers eye," Stass said.  
"That sounds about right," Anakin said, agreeing with the healer.  
"I thought so too," Stass said, plans already forming in her mind.  
"And that leaves you with Sterling Mace," Obi-Wan said.  
"Try not to scare her too badly," Anakin added with a faint smirk.

Mace opened his mouth to reply when the doors opened. Emily had returned with a human girl who the council assumed was Sterling. She had changed out of the black sweater she had been wearing to a red sweater. Sterling bowed at the waist.

"Hello," She said.  
"Hello Miss Sterling," Plo said.

Sterling gave a small smile as she tugged lightly as the sleeves of her sweater.

"I was told you wished to speak with me," She said, getting right down to business.  
"Indeed. We heard Emily's recollection of Sidious' attack on the two of you; we hoped you could provide your own side of the tale," Mace said.

Sterling took a deep breath and released it.

"Of course. I passed out and awoke in darkness. It was cold and I couldn't see, I suspect Sidious was manipulating my spacial awareness because of my lack of sensation. I searched for Emily and as I was searching for her, I could hear a voice speaking to her. He didn't seem to notice that I was there until I called Emily's name," Sterling started.

Emily grimaced and nodded in recollection, Sterling shouting her name echoing in her mind.

"I suspect he wanted Emily in order to turn her. Anyway, I managed to get her attention and focused on me and what I was saying. That seemed to loosen his grip on her and possibly where we were. But it wasn't enough to allow us to see each other or where we were," Sterling continued.  
"He forced you to have a vision? Or he possibly attacked you both in the middle of one. Disturbing... please continue," Stass mused, accidentally interrupting Sterling.

Sterling, on the other hand, continued as if she hadn't been interrupted, she was used to interruptions while she was talking:

"Anyway, it was dark and neither of us could see. I wanted light and then there was light. I could see a location, I think it was Jheda, I'm not sure. Then we started running, we weren't going to stick around. But as we were trying to get away, he grabbed Emily and tried to pull her back to the dark. I grabbed on and pulled as well. I managed to pull her away before we started running again but before we could get out, he grabbed me..." Sterling trailed off and shuddered, remembering the feeling of a hand she couldn't see grab her wrist. "He told me I would make a fine replacement for Emily."

Sterling's voice contained no bitterness in it when she spoke those words. Her face was blank as she spoke, hazel eyes staring out into space. Emily slowly turned to her friend, horror reflected in her eyes.

"You never mentioned that," Emily murmured.  
"It slipped

my mind after everything. Not to mention, I didn't really feel it was relevant at the time. I also didn't want to make you feel worse," Sterling said.  
"Sterling..." Emily sighed, biting her lip.  
"How did you escape?" Shaak asked gently.  
"I punched him in the face," Sterling said nonchalantly.  
"You didn't tell me you punched Sidious in the face," Emily choked, unsure if she was impressed or terrified for her friend.

Anakin, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka and Rex's heads snapped towards the brunette, shock and what appeared to be awe reflected in the eyes. Sterling took a step back and seemed to push her shoulders lower in an attempt to make herself smaller under all the scrutiny.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time. I think I broke either his nose or someone else's nose because I definitely felt cartilage give. Anyway, the shock of my punch loosened his grip and allowed me to remove my wrist, kick him away before I made my escape. I needed to get him away so he couldn't grab me again," Sterling said, voice picking up speed as she spoke, a clear sign that she was getting nervous quickly.  
"Gutsy," Adi remarked.  
"Like I said, it seemed like a good idea at the time," Sterling defended.  
"I'm not arguing," Adi said.  
"We will be able to discover more about this when you arrive on Coruscant," Mace said.  
"Perhaps," Sterling said, lips twitching.  
"Onto lighter matters, Emily informed us that you managed to best Commander Cody at Sabacc?" Shaak asked.

Emily flashed her friend a wide grin. Sterling sighed and nodded her head, she lowered her head, like she was embarrassed.

"Indeed. My new nicknames are "Card Shark" and "The Queen of Sabacc". Better than my old nickname of "Tarnish"," Sterling said before blushing slightly. "I'm surprised the game lasted as long as it did."

Rex and Anakin chuckled. Sterling rolled her eyes.

"How was I supposed to know I would beat Cody after two hours? I expected to be eliminated after the first round," Sterling protested.  
"I think introducing you to Luminara is a good idea," Shaak said.  
"Sounds like fun," Emily said, clapping her hands together.  
"Why do you want to introduce me to Luminara?" Sterling asked nervously  
"She's the other card shark," Emily clarified.  
"Ah."

Sterling rubbed the back of her neck self-consciously. Her blush had deepened ever so slightly.

"So uh... what will Emily and I be learning about when we reach Coruscant?" Sterling asked, getting back to business.  
"Shielding your mind primarily; in order to keep the Sith at bay," Mace said.  
"Understandable," Sterling said with a nod. "I speak for both Emily and me when I say that I don't want him in my head again."

Emily nodded weakly, she was glad Sterling was able to ask questions. Sterling's board-meeting face and calmness were back.

"Will that be all? Or is there anything else that we will be learning?" Sterling asked, pulling off her glasses and cleaning the lenses.  
"You will also be receiving basic Jedi training," Plo said.  
"Can I ask what that includes?" Sterling asked  
"We're... we're getting lightsabers?!" Emily asked, eyes widening to dinner plate size.  
"Indeed. You will be learning lightsaber combat, as well as most of we, teach the initiates. You will be trained as padawans," Kit said.  
"Wow. Okay, I look forward to learning then," Sterling said, a small smile crossing her face and an inquisitive look entering her eyes.

If there was one thing Sterling loved more than her books, it was learning something new. Emily was literally bouncing in place, a wide small gracing her face. Anakin regarded her with amusement.

"Aren't we a little old for this?" Sterling asked, the light in her eyes dimming a little.

Emily had to resist the urge to sigh and give her friend the stink eye. Damn Sterling and her often present pessimism.

"You are. But given the weight of your apparent knowledge, it's more important to ensure you do not fall into Sidious' hands," Mace said.  
"Touché. Who's going to be training us?" Sterling asked.  
"I will be your instructor. Stass will teach your friend," Mace said forbiddingly.

Sterling went ram-rod stiff like someone had shoved a metal pole down her spine. It wasn't a good look for her in Emily's opinion.

"Okay. That's fine with me," Sterling said, voice squeaking a little.  
"We're gonna be Jedi!" Emily squealed.

Sterling remained as stiff as board, eyes front and shoulders squared. Shaak took pity on the obviously intimidated girl in front of her.

"Don't worry Sterling, Master Windu isn't that bad," Shaak said.

Mace raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"You're not that scary Mace. Don't look at me like that," Shaak said. "And if your relationship with Depa is anything to go by, you and Sterling will do fine."  
"We will join you at the temple in a day, Masters," Obi-Wan said.  
"We await your arrival," Mace said.

The transmission ended and the hologram faded away. Emily whispered:

"I may end up cutting my arm off after all."  
"I feel the same. My sister was right. Fuck," Sterling whispered back.

The two girls exchanged looks, they both had looks of excitement and anticipation in their eyes, but there was also a certain wariness lingering in Sterling's.

"This is going to get interesting that's for sure," Sterling muttered under her breath.  
"I'm... gonna go make a cake. Wow. I'm gonna be a Jedi. Jedi," Emily squeaked.  
"Need a hand?" Sterling asked  
"Yeah, sure."

The two girls turned to leave the room. Sterling paused and muttered to herself:

"I'm about to get trained by the king hard-ass."

Anakin choked in an attempt not to burst out laughing at the nickname and at Obi-Wan's mildly disapproving face. Sterling jogged out of the room to catch up with her friend.

"Oh man..." Sterling muttered  
"So, which way to the kitchen?" Emily asked  
"That way I think."  
"Right. Let's do something familiar, it'll keep us from panicking."  
"Chocolate cake?"  
"Yeah. Two layers with a mint filling and chocolate icing."  
"That sounds delicious. I think we'll have to find a way to keep certain people out of the kitchen as we bake."  
"Keep who out of the kitchen?" Ahsoka asked  
"A bunch of people, Emily and I are baking."  
"Baking? Can I help?"  
"Sure, why not. What do you think Emily?"  
"Yeah, that's fine."

The trio walked into the kitchen, the doors closing behind them. It was going to take a while for Sterling to get used to the fact that she wouldn't have to use a door nob anymore.

"Okay, I'm gonna need a large mixing bowl..."  
"Check those cupboards over there. I'll lock the door," Ahsoka said.

Emily dug the bowl out of a cupboard and put it down on the counter-top.

"Alrighty..." Emily muttered as she dug through her email looking for the recipe. "Mom sent me the email a while ago. Here we are..."  
"What ingredients do we need?" Sterling asked

Emily listed them off, Sterling and Ahsoka gathering them and setting them down. Once the ingredients were gathered, the three girls went to work. As they worked, the air vent rattled a bit. Sterling looked up and asked rather sarcastically:

"Now who could that be?"  
"There's nothing to eat yet! We just started mixing," Emily said  
"I don't think our guest in the vent cares. You have a screwdriver Ahsoka?" Sterling asked

Ahsoka grinned widely and passed Sterling the tool. Sterling hoped up onto the counter-top and unscrewed the air vent before removing it and poking her head in. Sterling's voice could be heard asking:

"What the... Padmé? What are you doing in the vents?"  
"What?" Emily asked  
"You heard me," Sterling muttered  
"Senator Amidala?" Emily asked incredulously  
"Hi..." Padmé's voice said.  
"I thought for sure it was Hardcase," Emily muttered.  
"I was expecting Fives," Ahsoka said.  
"Apologies, I wanted a snack and the door was locked. What are you making?" Padmé asked climbing down.  
"Cake. How come you came through the vents instead of knocking? Sorry about the doors being locked, we were trying to keep certain clones at bay until the food as done."  
"I'm sorry I didn't knock. Sometimes the doors will lock themselves. I should probably get that fixed. Can I asked which clones you were trying to keep out?" Padmé asked  
"Hardcase and Fives, mostly," Emily said as she remembered both clones eating two pieces of cake at Rex's birthday party.  
"There's some fruit in the fridge; I'll have that," Padmé said. "I also wish you luck with keeping the boys out. They have some pretty big sweet teeth. The moment they smell baking, they will come running."  
"Hear that Ahsoka? It'll be like tower defence, Or Five Nights at Freddy's, only friendlier," Emily said.  
"I love tower defence games," Sterling said  
"What's Five Night's at Freddy's?" Ahsoka asked  
"It's a very scary game where pizza mascots try to murder you, and the only way to keep them away is through strategically closing doors with limited power," Emily explained  
"That sounds scary," Ahsoka agreed.  
"Agreed," Padmé muttered.  
"Yeah. It's incredibly freaky. I could never play it myself. Watching other people playing and skipping the jump scares? That's actually kind of funny."  
"Why would mascots try and kill you? Padmé asked  
"Why would someone play a game like that?" Ahsoka asked  
"Did we preheat the oven or did I forget?" Emily asked Sterling before turning back to Ahsoka and Padmé. "They're possessed by the spirits of murdered children looking for their killer, who was a security guard there. For the adrenaline I guess?"  
"The oven's preheated," Sterling said.  
"Great. Let's put it in."

Sterling took the cake and placed it in the oven.

"That's terrible. Did their killer ever get caught?" Ahsoka asked  
"Eventually," Emily said.  
"Good, I don't like people who hurt kids," Ahsoka said  
"How long does the cake need to cook for?" Sterling asked  
"45 minutes," Emily said. "His death is super disgusting and gruesome and his corpse is stuck in a failed prototype suit. Yeah."  
"Ugh," Padmé muttered, wrinkling her nose.  
"Shall we make the icing?" Sterling

asked  
"It's a horror game; horrible deaths are part and parcel," Emily explained. "Well, we should probably wait until it cools first."  
"Okay."

Sterling hoped up onto the counter-top and sat there, opening her book that Emily noticed belatedly that her friend had been holding, she wasn't entirely sure how she hadn't noticed the book; it was bright orange with a red bio-hazard symbol on the front cover. About fifteen minutes later, the smell of chocolate cake filled the air. Sterling looked up from her page and asked:

"Think we should expect Anakin in the wave of people trying to sneak in?"  
"Concerning your safety; check the vents and close doors only when absolutely necessary – gotta conserve power," Emily said as she imitated the phone guy.

Sterling stood up and checked the vents and cast a quick glance over her shoulder to the door.

"Well, the door is still locked and no one's in the vents yet," Sterling observed  
"All we're missing is a flashlight and a mascot head," Emily chuckled.

Sterling rolled her eyes as Ahsoka chuckled.

"Very funny. I wish we had one of those spray bottles. I could squirt anyone climbing through the vents," Sterling muttered half-jokingly as she went back to her book.  
"Can anything in here substitute that?" Emily asked  
"Hang on," Padmé said getting up.

She came back a few minutes later with four spray bottles in her hands. All were filled with water.

"Will these do?" Padmé asked  
"Yes, they'll do perfectly," Emily said as she took two bottles, one for herself and the other for Sterling. "Thank you."

Ahsoka took a bottle and looked positively gleeful. Sterling didn't really notice, the book she was ready must be really riveting.

"Now, if anyone tries to steal anything. We can spray em," Sterling said nonchalantly

Emily cast a glance at the timer before nodding in agreement.

"Yep. Prepare your weapons ladies, we're about to go to war," Emily said.  
"Let's go," Ahsoka cheered.

Sterling's ears pricked when she heard movement above her head. She flashed the others a quick grin before saying:

"I think I hear our first victim... I mean thief."

Sterling, not bothering to put her book down, stood up, popped open the grate to the vent before sticking her arm up with the spray bottle. There was a spritzing noise, a yelp as someone was sprayed and a scrambling sound.

"I got Fives!" Sterling declared

Ahsoka swung around when she heard the door open and sprayed a grinning Hardcase.

"Hah!"  
"Nice shot Ahsoka."

Emily ran to help cover the door whilst Padmé and Sterling covered the vent. It was obvious the clones were having fun. Sterling still hadn't put down her book.

"You think they'll ever surrender?" Emily asked  
"They're tenacious so maybe not until the goods are ready," Sterling mused as she sprayed Waxer

Emily glanced over her shoulder at the vent and sprayed Boil.

"Rex, you too?" Sterling asked rather incredulously.

She groaned, what did they want? The cake was nowhere near being ready then it hit her. When she was a little kid she always enjoyed licking the batter off the beaters and was always in competition with her siblings for the batter. Maybe they wanted the batter.

"Great, all we need is Cody, Ponds, the Wolfpack, the Guard and the Jedi, and then we'll have everyone," Sterling groused as she sprayed Stak and Razor simultaneously.

They were definitely after the remains of the batter. Ahsoka cackled and Sterling sighed. Then she had an idea, a quick glance at the mixing bowl which still had the remains of the batter and she knew what to do.

"Cover me," Sterling told Padmé.

She bolted forward and grabbed the bowl and the screwdriver before hopping back up onto the counter-top. She shoved the bowl into the vents shouting:

"Enjoy!"

There was a delighted shout from Fives at the offering before a protest from Jesse as Sterling screwed the vent back on.

"Clever Sterling, clever!" Kix shouted down  
"Thank you, Kix!" Sterling shouted back  
"We got it!" Echo's voice shouted.  
"Be sure to share boys," Sterling said before turning to face the clones at the door. "You guys can have the remains of the batter. Share. And bring the bowl back when you're done. Now shoo, we'll holler when we're done."

The clones left and Emily turned to look at her friend oddly.

"How did you know what they wanted?" Emily asked  
"Because this whole thing reminded me of the squabbles my siblings and I would get into when someone used the beaters to make a cake," Sterling said.  
"Oh," Emily said.  
"Good solution," Padmé said.  
"Took me a while to figure it out though."

Sterling then hopped back up onto the counter-top and picked up her page where she left off. The kitchen was spattered with the sounds of a page-turning and short, quiet conversations. Emily glanced at the timer and said:

"I think I'll go make the icing."

Sterling hummed in ascension but didn't look up. Emily chuckled and shook her head.

"And this is what Sterling is like with her one true love; books," Emily joked.  
"I'm a bookworm and proud of it," Sterling said.

Emily laughed as she made the icing, good old Sterling. The timer went off and Ahsoka pulled out the cakes to let them cool.

"What's your book about?" Padmé asked.  
"Anthrax and smallpox and the possibility of them being used as biological agents for weapons," Sterling said.  
"Sounds a lot like bio-terrorism to me," Ahsoka said.  
"Yeah, that's pretty much what it is. People experiment with deadly diseases to try and make them into weapons. Anthrax was used sometime before 9/11 and smallpox killed a lot of people before the vaccine was invented. And if someone were to make Ebola into a bio-weapon..." Sterling shuddered. "It's not a pleasant thought."  
"What's Ebola?" Padmé asked.  
"Ooh, how do I explain this without making anyone sick... essentially, Ebola is a disease that keeps your blood from clotting and when you start to bleed, you don't stop. You bleed from everywhere, eyes, nose, ears, mouth, anywhere that blood can come out, you will bleed. And depending on the strain, it kills between 50 to 90% of her victims," Sterling explained.  
"You know all this how?" Padmé asked looking a little green  
"I read," Sterling said simply

Emily tossed her head back and laughed. That was a very typical response from Sterling.

"Do you think this cake will be enough for all of us?" Ahsoka asked  
"I'm... I don't think so. Looking at it now, I think I should have made something else," Emily said, biting her lip.  
"You handle the cake, I'll make some cookies," Sterling said as she got up.

Emily shot her friend a grateful look. The cake was completely cooled by the time Sterling got the cookies in the oven. Emily began to place the icing on the cake and when she was done, realized she had made too much.

"Aaand I made too much icing. Again. Heh. Oh well," Emily sighed.  
"Take a spoon and eat it. Simple solution," Sterling pointed out.  
"That's my usual solution," Emily chuckled  
"Can I try some icing?" Ahsoka asked  
"Sure."  
"Me too please?" Padmé asked  
"Feel free, both of you," Emily said as she passed Ahsoka the bowl and a pair of spoons to Padmé.  
"Yay!"  
"Thank you, Emily."

There was the sound of the doors opening and Hardcase strolled in and placed the now empty and rather shiny mixing bowl down. Sterling raised an eyebrow at him but said nothing. She sighed when she saw the look Hardcase was giving the leftover cookie dough.

"Yes Hardcase, you can share the leftover cookie dough."  
"Thank you," Hardcase said and with that, he took the bowl and left the kitchen.

Sterling shook her head and checked her watch.

"Cookies should be ready in a bit."  
"You know, I'm feeling surprisingly zen," Ahsoka said.  
"I'm feeling hungry, that's what I'm feeling," Sterling muttered  
"Yeah, me too. But don't worry, we'll be able to eat soon enough," Emily reassured.

The moment Emily finished her sentence, the timer went off. Sterling went to remove the cookies from the oven. The girls waited five minutes for the cookies too cool before Sterling turned to Emily and asked:

"Shall we go announce that the baked goods are done?"  
"I'll do that," Padmé said.  
"Thanks."

Sterling and Emily brought out the foodstuff to a line of grinning clones. Anakin and Obi-Wan were at the end of the queue. While Emily was passing out the goods Sterling leaned against the wall next to Thire.

"I'm surprised that you didn't join in with the others while they were trying to sneak in, Thire."  
"You learn to be patient when dealing with city by-laws."  
"Heh, must be pretty boring then huh?"  
"Some of them can be, yeah."

Sterling chuckled and shook her head as she accepted her piece of cake.

"This is really good," Waxer said.  
"Glad you like it," Emily said with a grin.  
"The cookies are really good too," Padmé says.  
"Thanks," Sterling said.  
"Where has this been all my life?" Ahsoka asked no one in particular.  
"On Earth," Sterling joked.

That got laughter from everyone.

"I would like the recipes for these. They are really good," Padmé said.  
"That can be arranged," Sterling said smiling a little.  
"Why don't they have this on Coruscant?" Anakin asked. "It's so good.  
"I dunno," Emily said blushing  
"Does chocolate even exist on Coruscant?" Sterling hissed at Emily. "But considering those blissed out looks, I don't think so."  
"That's really depressing," Emily whispered back.  
"Good thing I brought a lot of chocolate bars with me."  
"Yeah."

Sterling shot her friend a look that seemed to say: "everything's going to be alright." Emily smiled at Sterling. There was a commotion, causing the girls to turn around to catch sight of Padmé trying to keep her slice of cake away from Anakin's fork. The two friends burst into peals of laughter at the scene.

 **And that is that for this chapter. A big shoutout and that you to my best friend TheGirlWithFarTooManyIdeas for her help with editing and dialogue bits. And I can totally see Anakin trying to steal cake off of someone's plate. So don't forget to read, like and review. Thanks. Later, Dana**


End file.
